Physical aspects of dust–plasma interactions

Low-pressure gas discharge plasmas are known to be strongly affected by the presence of small dust particles. This issue plays a role in the investigations of dust particle-forming plasmas, where the dust-induced instabilities may affect the properties of synthesized dust particles. Also, gas discharges with large amounts of microparticles are used in microgravity experiments, where strongly coupled subsystems of charged microparticles represent particle-resolved models of liquids and solids. In this field, deep understanding of dust–plasma interactions is required to construct the discharge configurations which would be able to model the desired generic condensed matter physics as well as, in the interpretation of experiments, to distinguish the plasma phenomena from the generic condensed matter physics phenomena. In this review, we address only physical aspects of dust–plasma interactions, that is, we always imply constant chemical composition of the plasma as well as constant size of the dust particles. We also restrict the review to two discharge types: dc discharge and capacitively coupled rf discharge. We describe the experimental methods used in the investigations of dust–plasma interactions and show the approaches to numerical modelling of the gas discharge plasmas with large amounts of dust. Starting from the basic physical principles governing the dust–plasma interactions, we discuss the state-of-the-art understanding of such complicated, discharge-type-specific phenomena as dust-induced stratification and transverse instability in a dc discharge or void formation and heartbeat instability in an rf discharge.     

Relevance of slow positron beam research to astrophysical studies of positron interactions and annihilation in the interstellar medium

The processes undergone by positrons in the interstellar medium (ISM) from the moments of their birth to their annihilation are examined. Both the physics of the positron interactions with gases and solids (dust grains), and the physical conditions and characteristics of the environments where the processes of energy loss, positronium formation, and annihilation taking place, are reviewed. An explanation is given as to how all the relevant physical information are taken into account in order to calculate annihilation rates and spectra of the 511 keV emission for the various phases of the ISM; special attention is paid to positron interactions with dust and with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. An attempt is made to show to what extent the interactions between positrons and interstellar dust grains are similar to laboratory experiments in which beams of slow positrons impinge upon solids and surfaces. Sample results are shown for the effect of dust grains on positron annihilation spectra in some phases of the ISM which, together with high resolution spectra measured by satellites, can be used to infer useful knowledge about the environment where the annihilation is predominantly taking place and ultimately about the birth place and history of positrons in the Galaxy. The important complementarity between work done by the astrophysical and the solid-state positron communities is strongly emphasized and specific experimental work is suggested which could assist the modeling of the interaction and annihilation of positrons in the ISM.     

Influence of complex component and particle polydispersity on radiative properties of soot aggregate in atmosphere

The effects of morphological structure, water coating, dust mixing and primary particle size distribution on the radiative properties of soot fractal aggregates in atmosphere are investigated using T-matrix method. These fractal aggregates are numerically generated using a combination of the particle-cluster and cluster-cluster aggregation algorithms with fractal parameters representing soot aggregate in atmosphere. The radiative properties of compact aggregate notably deviate from that of the branched one, and the effect of morphology changes on the radiative properties in wet air cannot be neglected. However it is reasonable to use realization-averaged radiative properties to represent that of the aggregates with certain morphology. In wet air, the scattering, absorption and extinction cross-section and symmetry parameter of soot aggregates coated with water notably increase with water shell thickness. The mixing structures of dust have little effect on radiative properties of aggregates, but the volume fraction of dust has an obvious effect on extinction, scattering and absorption cross-section of aggregates when the size parameters are above the Rayleigh limit. Although the primary particle size distribution of soot aggregate has mild effect on the scattering albedo and asymmetry parameter, the deviations of the extinction, scattering, absorption cross-section among the three size distributions are significant in this study. The size distribution has a significant effect on forward scattering of phase function, while the effect can be neglected as the size parameter approaches to the Rayleigh limit.     

New physical concept of the formation of dust crystals

A clear physical model is proposed for phase transitions in a dusty plasma. According to this model, the formation of plasma dust crystals is associated with the nonlinear effect of the collective attraction of dust particles. The nonlinear collective attraction between negatively charged dust particles corresponds to large charges of dust particles used in the available experiments. This concept provides a new physical model of crystallization that is attributable to the capture of dust particles in an attractive potential well rather than to the strong interaction between them. Calculation using this model yields the depth of the attractive potential well and the critical coupling constant in good agreement with the available experimental data.     

T-matrix approach to calculating circular polarization of aggregates made of optically active materials

Optical activity is a typical property of the biological materials where left-handed amino-acids and right-handed carbohydrates dominate (so called homochirality). Observationally, optically active materials reveal themselves through the circular polarization in the light they scatter. Thus, circular polarization produced by the optically active particles can serve as a biomarker. It is known that biological (e.g. colonies of bacteria) and pre-biological (e.g. dust in comets) particles often have a complex structure that can be modeled presenting them as aggregates of small monomers. This motivated the development of the T-matrix code presented in this paper, which enables calculation of the scattering matrix - including circular polarization - of the light scattered by aggregated optically active particles. The code can be used for modeling the light scattering by biological objects (e.g. colonies of bacteria, blood cells) and for interpretation of the circular polarization produced by the cosmic dust that contains (pre)biological organic, e.g. comet dust or planetary aerosols.     

Dust in the planetary system: Dust interactions in space plasmas of the solar system

Cosmic dust particles are small solid objects observed in the solar planetary system and in many astronomical objects like the surrounding of stars, the interstellar and even the intergalactic medium. In the solar system the dust is best observed and most often found within the region of the orbits of terrestrial planets where the dust interactions and dynamics are observed directly from spacecraft. Dust is observed in space near Earth and also enters the atmosphere of the Earth where it takes part in physical and chemical processes. Hence space offers a laboratory to study dust–plasma interactions and dust dynamics. A recent example is the observation of nanodust of sizes smaller than 10 nm. We outline the theoretical considerations on which our knowledge of dust electric charges in space plasmas are founded. We discuss the dynamics of the dust particles and show how the small charged particles are accelerated by the solar wind that carries a magnetic field. Finally, as examples for the space observation of cosmic dust interactions, we describe the first detection of fast nanodust in the solar wind near Earth orbit and the first bi-static observations of PMSE, the radar echoes that are observed in the Earth ionosphere in the presence of charged dust.     

Optical modeling of mineral dust particles: A review

Dust particles are uniquely and irregularly shaped, they can be inhomogeneous, form agglomerates, be composed of anisotropic materials, and have a preferred orientation. As such, modeling their light scattering is very challenging. This review takes a look at the advances in dust optical modeling over the last decade. It is obvious that our ability to model the single-scattering properties of dust particles accurately depends on the size parameter. Unfortunately, our ability to account realistically for all the relevant physical properties in light-scattering modeling is the best for small particles; whereas, the realistic treatment of the particles would be most important for large size parameters. When particles are not much larger than the wavelength, even simple model shapes such as homogeneous spheroids appear to perform well; practically any reasonable shape distribution of non-spherical model particles seems superior compared to the Mie theory. Our ability to model scattering by dust particles much larger than the wavelength is very limited: no method presently exists to predict reliably and accurately the single-scattering properties of such particles, although there are models that can be tuned to agree well with the laboratory-measured reference scattering matrices. The intermediate size parameters between the resonance domain and the geometric-optics domain appear to be almost uncharted territory and, consequently, very little can be said about the impact of different physical properties on scattering in this region. Despite the challenges, the use of Mie theory should be avoided: contrary to the popular belief, the use of Mie spheres is a major source of error even in radiation-budget considerations.     

Processes underlying the laser photochromic effect in colloidal plasmonic nanoparticle aggregates

We have studied the dynamic and static processes occurring in disordered multiparticle colloidal Ag aggregates with natural structure and affecting their plasmonic absorption spectra under pico-and nanosecond pulsed laser radiations, as well as the physical origin responsible for these processes. We have shown that depending on the duration of the laser pulse,the mechanisms of laser modification of such aggregates can be associated both with changes in the resonant properties of the particles due to their heating and melting(picosecond irradiation mode) and with the particle shifts in the resonant domains of the aggregates(nanosecond pulses) which depend on the wavelength, intensity, and polarization of the radiation.These mechanisms result in formation of a narrow dip in the plasmonic absorption spectrum of the aggregates near the laser radiation wavelength and affect the shape and position of the dip. The effect of polydispersity of nanoparticle aggregates on laser photochromic reaction has been studied.     

Compressive and Rarefactive Waves in Dust Plasma with Non-thermal Ions

The governing equation of the dust fluid with non-thermal ions and variable dust charge on dust particles in hot dust plasmas is obtained. Both the compressive and rarefactive waves in this system are investigated. They can be determined by plasma parameters including the temperatures of dust fluid, ions and electrons, as well as the non-thermal parameter of ions, and the number densities of the dust particles, the ions and the electrons, etc.     

Similarity and diversity in photometric and polarimetric opposition effects of small Solar System bodies

The phase-angle dependences of brightness and polarization of light scattered by atmosphereless Solar System bodies (satellites, asteroids, planetary rings) as well as comets and zodiacal light are analysed on the basis of available ground-based and spacecraft observations. We study similarity and diversity in the photometric and polarimetric opposition effects. The similarity of the brightness and polarization phase functions for polydisperse dust media (cometary and interplanetary dust) and for atmosphereless bodies at small phase angles gives grounds to state that at least some physical properties of dust particles and light-scattering mechanisms should be similar for the two classes of objects. The aggregate structure of particles in different objects can be precisely the property that determines the photometric and polarimetric effects observed in the opposition region. Differences observed in opposition effects for different objects are likely caused by different physical properties (composition, sizes, structure, density) of the scattering particles and, therefore, by different relative contributions of the light-scattering mechanisms. However, the relationship between the photometric opposition effect, spike effect, negative polarization branch, and polarization opposition effect for different bodies is ambiguous.     

Dispersion of Dust Acoustic Modes and Perturbations of Plasma Flux Balance

Previous considerations of dust acoustic waves is demonstrated to be inconsistent ‐ the required equilibrium state for perturbations was not defined since balance of plasma fluxes was neglecting. The self‐consistent treatment shows that plasma flux perturbations are accompanying any collective waves propagating in dusty plasmas and can play an important role in wave dispersion, wave damping and can create instabilities. This is illustrated by the derivation of dispersion relation for dust acoustic modes taking into account the plasma flux balances and plasma flux perturbations by waves. The result of this approach shows that the dust acoustic waves with linear dependence of wave frequency on the wave number exist only in restricted range of the wave numbers. Only for wave numbers larger than some critical wave number for low frequency modes the frequency can be have approximately a linear dependence on wave number and can be called as dust acoustic wave but the phase velocity of these waves is different from that which can be obtained neglecting the flux balance and depends on grain charge variations which are determined by the balance of fluxes. The presence of plasma fluxes previously neglected is the main typical feature of dusty plasmas. The dispersion relation in the range of small wave numbers is found to be mainly determined by the change of the plasma fluxes and is quite different from that of dust acoustic type, namely it is found to have the same form as the well known dispersion relation for the gravitational instability. This result proves in general way the existence of the collective grain attractions of negatively charged grains for for large distances between them and for any source of ionization. The attraction of grains found from dispersion relation of the dust acoustic branch coincides with that found previously for pair grain interactions using some models for the ionization source. For the existing experiments the effective Jeans length for such attraction is estimated to be about 8 – 10 times larger than the ion Debye length and the effective gravitational constant for the grain attraction is estimated to be several orders of magnitude larger than the usual gravitational constant. The grain attraction at large inter‐grain distances described by the gravitationlike grain instability is considered as the simplest explanation for observed dust cloud clustering, formation of dust structures including the plasma crystals. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Dust Sheared Flow Driven Instability of Dust Drift Waves in a Nonuniform Magnetoplasma

We investigate instability of dust drift waves in a nonuniform dusty magnetoplasma containing transverse sheared plasma flow that is produced by a nonuniform electric field. By using Boltzmann distributed electrons and ions, Poisson’s equation, as well as the dust continuity equation with perpendicular guiding center dust drift speed, we derive an eigenvalue equation, which strongly depends on the profiles of dust sheared flow and dust density gradient. The eigenvalue equation is analytically solved to obtain expressions for the growth rate and threshold of a convective instability arising from resonant interactions between the dust drift waves and sheared flows. The result may be relevant to the understanding of short wavelength (in comparison with the ion gyroradius) electrostatic fluctuations in magnetized plasmas of Saturn rings and in cometary tails. PACS numbers: 52.27.Lw; 52.35.Fp     

Linear propagation of dust acoustic modes in the presence of an electron beam

The physical and optical properties of plasmas are depended on dynamics of species in the discharge volume. Then, the presence of an electron beam, as a separate component, in a dusty plasma can modify the plasma structures through altering the discharge parameters. In this report, the linear propagation of acoustic modes in a collisionless dusty plasma contains electrons, ions and charged dust grains is investigated in the presence of an electron beam. Our analysis indicates that the electron beam can modify the dispersion relations of dust acoustic modes which resulted different data transportation in dusty plasmas. The obtained results are also examined for negative and positive charged dust grains with different number densities. The charge of dust grains represents an important role in the dynamics of the low frequency waves. Additionally, our findings reveal that the propagation of acoustic waves in dusty plasmas can be controlled by adjusting the electron number density of the beam and the cathode potential. Lastly, we obtian the destabilizing effects, originated from dust charge fluctuation, by reconsidering the dispersion relations of both dust acoustic modes.     

On the role of dust in the cometary plasma

The cometary coma consists of neutral gas, plasma, and dust grains. The dust grains can influence both the neutral and charged coma’s constituents. Usually, the presence of dust particles in a plasma results in additional losses of both electrons and ions due to the plasma recombination on the particle surfaces. Solar radiation makes the impact of dust even more complicated depending on the solar flux, the dust number density, the photoelectric properties of the dust particles, the dust particle composition, the distribution of the sizes, etc. We propose a simple kinetic model evaluating the role of dust particles in the coma plasma chemistry and demonstrate that this role can be crucial, resulting in a nontrivial behavior of both the electron and ion densities of the plasma. We show that a coma’s dust particles can be negatively as well as positively charged depending on their composition. These opposite charges of the grains can result in fast coagulation of dust particles, thus, forming complex aggregate shapes of cometary grains. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Cometary Dust Sizing: Comparison between optical and in-situ sampling techniques

We try to evaluate the level of confidence that can be placed in the optical methods available for sizing cometary dust (and, at the same time, deriving all its other characteristics). We use for this purpose the new informations provided by the in-situ sampling of Comet Halley dust. We try to determine whether data from this origin are compatible with visible and I. R. spectra of this comet acquired from the Earth, and with earlier interpretations of such spectra. We find that, as happens frequently when remote sensing and local sampling techniques data can be compared, none of these techniques can claim to be fully satisfactory. In the case of cometary dust, current estimates based on optical sizing only may be much less accurate than precedingly assumed. Improvements in the observational approaches appear needed, as well as new laboratory investigations and theoretical developments to improve the capabilities of the optical studies of cometary dust.     

Complex absorbing potentials

We review the construction and use of complex potentials in reactive scattering and other molecular collisions to calculate continuum quantities (such as state-to-state transition probabilities, cumulative reaction probabilities, or resonance characteristics) with finite grid or finite basis methods. The success of the approach is greatly based on its simplicity. In general these potentials are adjusted phenomenologically or optimized for achieving an absorptive and non-reflecting boundary. For further progress the conceptual and formal framework of the complex potentials and the efficiency of their numerical implementation must be investigated more deeply. We present along this line a formal theory of scattering for complex potentials in one dimension, as well as a detailed account of the functional forms and construction methods proposed. We also demonstrate that part of the acquired knowledge may be transferred to “physical” absorbing potentials, i.e., effective interactions that can be tailored physically (rather than numerically) to accomplish e.g. an improved atomic detection by fluorescence.     

Ground States of Lattice Gases with “Almost” Convex Repulsive Interactions

To the best of our knowledge there is only one example of a lattice system with long-range two-body interactions whose ground states have been determined exactly: the one-dimensional lattice gas with purely repulsive and strictly convex interactions. Its ground-state particle configurations do not depend on any other details of the interactions and are known as the generalized Wigner lattices or the most homogeneous particle configurations. The question of the stability of this beautiful and universal result against certain perturbations of the repulsive and convex interactions is interesting in itself. Additional motivations for studying such perturbations come from surface physics (adsorption on crystal surfaces) and theories of correlated fermion systems (recent results on ground-state particle configurations of the one-dimensional spinless Falicov–Kimball model). As a first step, we studied a one-dimensional lattice gas whose two-body interactions are repulsive and strictly convex only from distance 2 on, while its value at distance 1 can be positive or negative, but close to zero. We showed that such a modification makes the ground-state particle configurations sensitive to the tail of the interactions; if the sum of the strengths of the interactions from the distance 3 on is small with respect to the strength of the interaction at distance 2, then particles form two-particle lattice-connected aggregates that are distributed in the most homogeneous way. Consequently, despite breaking of the convexity property, the ground state exhibits the feature known as the complete devil's staircase.     

Acoustic modes in a dusty plasma

The propagation of the dust ion acoustic and dust acoustic modes in a dusty plasma is studied. The effect of the coupling of the charge fluctuation on the dust particles to the modes is taken into account self-consistently. It is found that the charge fluctuation leads to frequency down shift as well as dissipation of the modes. For the dust ion acoustic modes, these are significant only when the frequency characterizing the rate of capture of electrons by the dust particles in the equilibrium state is of the order of the frequency of the mode, and the mode can propagate without significant dissipation only when its frequency is well above this characteristic frequency. For the dust acoustic modes, these are significant only when the frequency characterizing the rate of capture of ions by the dust particles in the equilibrium state is of the order of the frequency of the mode, and the mode can propagate without significant dissipation only when its frequency is well above this characteristic frequency.     

Light-scattering properties of fractal aggregates: numerical calculations by a superposition technique and the discrete-dipole approximation

Dust particles in space often grow by mutual collisions and appear to be an agglomeration of individual grains, the morphology of which can be described by the concept of fractals. In this paper, we study light scattering by fractal aggregates of identical spheres (monomers) using the superposition technique incorporated into the T-matrix method where the orientationally averaged scattering matrix is analytically obtained. We also apply the discrete-dipole approximation, in which the dipole polarizability of spherical monomers is determined by the first term of the scattering coefficients in the Mie theory. Two cases of the ballistic aggregation process (particle–cluster and cluster–cluster aggregations) are considered to model fractal aggregates consisting of silicate or carbon material. The dependences of light-scattering properties on the monomer sizes, aggregate structures and material compositions are intensively investigated. The light-scattering properties of the fractal aggregates strongly depend on the size parameters of the monomers. The difference in the scattering function between the particle–cluster and cluster–cluster aggregates can be seen in the case of monomers much smaller than the wavelength of incident radiation. When the size parameter of monomers exceeds unity, the material composition of the monomers influences the light-scattering properties of the aggregates, but different morphologies result in similar scattering and polarization patterns. We show that silicate aggregates consisting of submicron-sized monomers, irrespective of the aggregate size and morphology, produce a backscattering enhancement and a negative polarization observed for dust in the solar system.     

Radar studies of ionospheric dusty plasma phenomena

We discuss the influence of charged dust on radar observations in the Earth ionosphere. This region in the upper Earth atmosphere can be described as a partially ionized, low‐temperature plasma. Plasma parameters vary by orders of magnitude spatially and in time. Dust particles influence the charge balance, in some cases dusty plasma condition is met. The polar mesospheric echoes are an example of dust plasma interactions observed with radar. The mesosphere is a region where atmospheric temperature decreases with altitude and can reach frost point temperature. The formation of the polar mesospheric radar echoes involves neutral atmosphere dynamics, which is latitude dependent and it involves charged dust particles, especially icy dust that forms in the polar summer mesosphere. Charged dust can also influence incoherent scatter that results from electromagnetic waves scattering off electrons, where the electrons are coupled to other charged components. Observers rarely report charged dust signatures in the incoherent scatter spectra; we show that there is a good chance for doing so with improved observations. The incoherent scatter can possibly also be used to estimate the amount of charged dust in the direct vicinity of a meteor, as we show based on the order of magnitude considerations. This prospect of new observational results makes theoretical investigations of radio‐wave scattering in the presence of charged dust with size distributions worthwhile.