Structural properties of complex plasmas in a homogeneous dc discharge

We report on the first three-dimensional (3D) complex plasma structure analysis for an experiment that was performed in an elongated discharge tube in the absence of striations. The low frequency discharge was established with 1 kHz alternating dc current through a cylindrical glass tube filled with neon at 30 Pa. The injected particle cloud consisted of monodisperse microparticles. A scanning laser sheet and a camera were used to determine the particle position in 3D. The observed cylindrical-shaped particle cloud showed an ordered structure with a distinct outer particle shell. The observations are in agreement with performed molecular dynamics simulations.     

Power loss of an energetic charged particle moving parallel to a graphene sheet

In this work we analyze the energy loss of a fast charged particle moving parallel to a two-dimensional (2D) graphene sheet. The response dynamics of the 2D graphene sheet are modeled using the random phase approximation in the degenerate limit (zero temperature). We determine the energy loss and stopping power for motion parallel to the graphene sheet as a function of the distance of the charged particle from the 2D sheet and of its velocity.     

二维粒子模拟方法及在空间物理中应用

在粒子模拟的PIC(particle in cell)模式中,与场有关的物理量如电磁场等分配在固定的网格点上,而粒子则可在计算区域的任意位置上.设计了一个二维三分量的粒子模拟程序,并用它计算了空间物理中两种常见的物理现象:束流不稳定性和磁场重联.在束流不稳定性问题中,一束速度为V_b=10V_A(V_A为Alfvén速度)的等离子体在背景等离子中运动,通过波粒相互作用可激发沿磁场方向传播的Alfvén波.在磁场重联问题中,具有Harris形态的电流片可自发地引起磁场重联,并且B_y分量的磁场具有四极形分布.     

Electrostatic model of band-gap renormalization and the photoluminescence line shape in a GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional layer at a high excitation level

An electrostatic model for calculating the band-gap renormalization in a two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor layer (quantum well) due to the Coulomb interaction between nonequilibrium charge carriers has been proposed. Consideration is given only to the first quantum-well energy levels for electrons and heavy holes. The exchange and correlation energies are calculated for the first time taking into account the charge-carrier potential energyfluctuations created by electrons and holes along the 2D layer. A relationship for the screened Coulomb potential along the 2D layer is derived, which, within the extremely narrow quantum-well approximation, transforms into the known expression. The band-gap renormalization and the photoluminescence line shape for the GaAs 2D layer in an Al_xGa_1?x As matrix are computed depending on the concentration of nonequilibrium electrons and holes. The calculated band-gap renormalization is in agreement with the available experimental data at a high photoexcitation of the quantum well when the electrons and holes form the 2D plasma.     

Enhancement of the guide field during the current sheet formation in the three-dimensional magnetic configuration with an X line

Results are presented from studies of the formation of current sheets during exciting a current aligned with the X line of the 3D magnetic configuration, in the CS-3D device. Enhancement of the guide field (parallel to the X line) was directly observed for the first time, on the basis of magnetic measurements. After the current sheet formation, the guide field inside the sheet exceeds its initial value, as well as the field outside. It is convincingly demonstrated that an enhancement of the guide field is due to its transportation by plasma flows on the early stage of the sheet formation. The in-plane plasma currents, which produce the excess guide field, are comparable to the total current along the X line that initiates the sheet itself.     

Current sheets in magnetic configurations with singular X-lines

The possibility of the formation of current sheets in 3D magnetic configurations with singular X-lines was studied experimentally. It is shown that a sheet can be formed in the presence of the longitudinal magnetic-field component directed along the X-line, in which case the longitudinal component can exceed the transverse component everywhere inside the plasma. Characteristic of the CS formation in 3D magnetic configurations with X-lines are an increase in the longitudinal magnetic-field component inside the sheet and a decrease in the plasma compression ratio as compared to 2D configurations with null-lines. If the longitudinal component exceeds a certain critical value, a sheet cannot be formed: instead of a sheet, there appear two sheaths separated by a cavity with a local minimum in the electron density.     

Evolution of a Harris current sheet in an electric field

Evolution of a Harris current sheet in the presence of an electric field is studied numerically. An explicit scheme is used to recalculate the particle distribution function with respect to velocities. The mechanism of formation of electric fields is analyzed on the basis of the phase volume conservation theorem. The effects of 1D sheet compression and electron and ion acceleration near the magnetic field zero line are described.     

Measurement of temperature of a dusty plasma from its configuration

A new concept called “configurational temperature” is introduced in the context of dusty plasma, where the temperature of the dust particles submerged in the plasma can be measured directly from the positional information of the individual dust particles and the interaction potential between the dust grains. This method does not require the velocity information of individual particles, which is a key parameter to measure the dust temperature in the conventional method. The technique is initially tested using two-dimensional (2D) OpenMP parallel molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulation and then compared with the temperature evaluated from experimental data. The experiment have been carried out in the Dusty Plasma Experimental (DPEx) device, where a 2D stationary plasma crystal of melamine formaldehyde particles is formed in the cathode sheath of a DC glow discharge argon plasma. The kinetic temperature of the dust is calculated using the standard particle image velocimetry technique at different pressures. An extended simulation result for the three-dimensional case is also presented, which can be employed for the temperature measurement of a three-dimensional dust crystal in laboratory devices.     

Structures and Dynamics of a Two-Dimensional Confined Dusty Plasma System

The influence of the confining potential strength and temperature on the structures and dynamics of a two-dimensional （2D） dusty plasma system is investigated through molecular dynamic （MD） simulation. The circular symmetric confining potential leads to the nonuniform packing of particles, that is, an inner core with a hexagon lattice surrounded by a few outer circular shells. Under the appropriate confining potential and temperature, the particle trajectories on middle shells form a series of concentric and nested hexagons due to tangential movements of particles. Mean square displacement, self-diffusion constant, pair correlation function, and the nearest bond are used to characterize the structural and dynamical properties of the system. With the increase of the confining potential, the radial and tangential movements of particles have different behaviors. With the increase of temperature, the radial and tangential motions strengthen, particle trajectories gradually become disordered, and the system gradually changes from a crystal or liquid state to a gas state.     

Structures and Dynamics of a Two-Dimensional Confined Dusty Plasma System

The influence of the confining potential strength and temperature on the structures and dynamics of a two-dimensional (2D) dusty plasma system is investigated through molecular dynamic (MD) simulation. The circular symmetric confining potential leads to the nonuniform packing of particles, that is, an inner core with a hexagon lattice surrounded by a few outer circular shells. Under the appropriate confining potential and temperature, the particle trajectories on middle shells form a series of concentric and nested hexagons due to tangential movements of particles.Mean square displacement, self-diffusion constant, pair correlation function, and the nearest bond are used to characterize the structural and dynamical properties of the system. With the increase of the confining potential, the radial and tangential movements of particles have different behaviors. With the increase of temperature, the radial and tangential motions strengthen, particle trajectories gradually become disordered, and the system gradually changes from a crystal or liquid state to a gas state.     

Radial evolution of the finite-width plasma sheet in a Z-pinch-aparametric analysis based on conservation laws

An algebraic method to compute the macroscopic radial-averaged quantities (thickness, density, radial velocity) of the plasma sheet in the first compression of simple z-pinches is presented. Following the snowplow model, a set of MHD equations is written in a reference system in which the internal boundary of the plasma sheet is at rest. The magnetic pressure and the energy losses are both modeled as functions of the radius of the sheet, and a time-independent algebraic equation is obtained. Finding the roots of this expression, the thickness of the plasma sheet as a function of its radius can be computed. The temporal evolution of all the quantities of the plasma sheet can also be obtained making an appropriate change to the reference system. Computed values of the temperature of the sheet are in agreement with experimental values. The ranges of validity for the numerical values of the modeling parameters are analyzed     

Rigorous Asymptotic Study of the Screened Electrostatic Potential in a Thin Dielectric Slab

The screened Coulomb potential plays a crucial role in the binding energies of excitons in a thin dielectric slab. The asymptotic behavior of this potential is studied when the thickness of the slab is very small as compared to the exciton Bohr radius. A regularized expression is given and the exact effective 2D potential is derived. These expressions may be useful for the computation of the exciton binding energy in 2D or quasi‐2D materials.     

Test of the Stokes-Einstein relation in a two-dimensional Yukawa liquid

The Stokes-Einstein relation, relating the diffusion and viscosity coefficients D and eta, is tested in two dimensions. An equilibrium molecular-dynamics simulation was used with a Yukawa pair potential. Regimes are identified where motion is diffusive and D is meaningful. The Stokes-Einstein relation, Deta proportional k(B)T, was found to be violated near the disordering transition; under these conditions collective particle motion exhibits dynamical heterogeneity. At slightly higher temperatures, however, the Stokes-Einstein relation is valid. These results may be testable in strongly coupled dusty plasma experiments.     

Kinetic Approach to the Electrical Conductivity in a Partially Ionized Hydrogen Plasma

The electrical conductivity is investigated for a partially ionized hydrogen plasma, starting from a generalized quantum kinetic equation with three particle collision integrals. To take into account plasma effects, screened potentials are used. The transport cross sections of the considered two and three particle scattering processes are calculated by perturbative solution of the Lippmann-Schwinger equations for the T-matrices up to the second Born approximation. In connection with a mass action law the influence of the electron-electron and the elastic electron-atom scattering is discussed. The pressure ionization (Mott-effect) is described by a minimum-behaviour of the electrical conductivity.     

Structure and phase transition of a two—dimensional dusty plasma

The structure and phase transition of a two-dimensional (2D) dusty plasma have been investigated in detail bymolecular dynamics simulation. Pair correlation function, static structure factor, mean square displacement, and bondangle correlation function have been calculated to characterize the structural properties. The variation of internalenergy, shear modulus, particle trajectories and structural properties with temperature has been monitored to studythe phase transition of the 2D dusty plasma system. The simulation results are in favour of a two-step continuoustransition for this kind of plasma.     

Theory and design of a free-electron maser with two-dimensional feedback driven by a sheet electron beam

The use of two-dimensional Bragg resonators of planar geometry, realizing two-dimensional (2D) distributed feedback, is considered as a method of producing spatially coherent radiation from a large sheet electron beam. The spectrum of eigenmodes is found for a 2D Bragg resonator when the sides of the resonator are open and also when they are closed. The higher selectivity of the open resonator in comparison with the closed one is shown. A time-domain analysis of the excitation of an open 2D Bragg resonator by a sheet electron beam demonstrates that a single-mode steady-state oscillation regime may be obtained for a sheet electron beam of width 100-1000 wavelengths. Nevertheless, for a free-electron maser (FEM) with a closed 2D Bragg resonator, a steady-state regime can also be realized if the beam width does not exceed 50-100 wavelengths. The parameters for a FEM with a 2D planar Bragg resonator driven by a sheet electron beam based on the U-2 accelerator (INP RAS, Novosibirsk) are estimated and the project is described.     

Suppression of particle generation in a plasma process using a sine-wave modulated rf plasma

Sine-wave modulated rf plasma has been used to control particle generation and growth in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of silicon dioxide thin films using TEOS/O₂. The density and the size of particles generated in the plasma are greatly reduced when the plasma is modulated with sine-wave modulation at low modulation frequency (<1000 Hz). In addition, particle contamination on the films is significantly reduced also for nanoparticles, and the film growth rates at the range of modulation frequencies where particle generation are greatly reduced do not decrease appreciably. Compared to its counterpart pulse-wave modulation plasma, the sine-wave modulation plasma has demonstrated a better performance in terms of reduction of particle generation and film contamination, and of film growth rate. Thus, the sine-wave modulation plasma has shown as a promising method to be applied in the production of thin film with a high deposition rate and a low particle contamination.     

Global particle simulation for a space weather model: present andfuture

The authors report progress in the long-term effort to represent the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth's magnetosphere using a three-dimensional electromagnetic particle model (EMPM) as a space weather model. Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation models have been refined to establish quantitative global modeling in comparison with observations. The EMPM has become more feasible as the power and speed of supercomputers have improved in recent years. Simulations with southward and dawnward turning IMFs have revealed the fundamental processes which have been confirmed by MHD simulations and observations. After a quasisteady state is established with an unmagnetized solar wind, a southward IMF is switched on, which causes the magnetosphere to stretch with reconnection at the dayside magnetopause. The plasma sheet in the near-Earth magnetotail clearly thins. The cross-field current also thins and intensifies, which excites a kinetic (drift kink) instability along the dawn-dusk direction. As a result of this instability the electron compressibility effect appears to be reduced and to allow the collisionless tearing to grow rapidly with the reduced B_z component. Later, magnetic reconnection also takes place in the near-Earth magnetotail. In the case where the northward IMF is switched gradually to dawnward, magnetic reconnection takes place at both the dawnside and duskside. The arrival of dawnward IMF at the magnetopause creates a reconnection groove which causes particle entry into the deep region of the magnetosphere via field lines that go near the magnetopause. The flank weak-field region joins onto the plasma sheet and the current sheet to form a geometrical feature called the cross-tail S that structurally integrates the magnetopause and the tail interior     

修正屏蔽库仑势下二维尘埃等离子体的动力学和结构特性

本文考虑等离子体密度分布变化, 得到了修正屏蔽库仑势的解析解. 数值分析以及分子动力学模拟表明, 在常见实验室参数情况下, 等离子体密度分布变化引起的屏蔽库仑势修正对二维尘埃等离 子体系统的动力学和结构特性影响很小. 在极限参数情况下, 本模型的计算结果表明二维尘埃等离子体系统的扩散能力明显降低, 并且系统组态呈圆形分布. 此外, 本文还研究了实验室常见大小磁场对二维尘埃等离子体系统的影响. 关键词： 修正屏蔽库仑势 二维尘埃等离子体 分子动力学模拟     

Nonlinear excitation and stability analysis of ion-acoustic waves in a magnetized quantum plasma with exchange-correlation effects of degenerate electrons

The nonlinear ion-acoustic wave excitation and its stability analysis are investigated in a magnetized quantum plasma with exchange-correlation and Bohm diffraction effects of degenerate electrons in the model. Using reductive perturbation technique, the Zakharov-Kuznetsov (ZK) equation is derived for two dimensional propagation of ion-acoustic wave in a magnetized quantum plasma. It is found that the phase speed, amplitude and width of the nonlinear ion-acoustic wave structures are affected in the presence of exchange-correlation potential in the model. The stability analysis of the 2D ion-acoustic wave pulse is also presented. It is found that growth rate of the first and second order instabilities of 2D ion acoustic wave soliton is enhanced with the inclusion of exchange-correlation potential effect in the model.