Dust in Plasma I. Particle Size and Ion‐Neutral Collision Effects

A fully kinetic self‐consistent model of an absorbing particle immersed in stationary isotropic weakly collisional plasma has been developed. The combined effects of particle size and ion‐neutral charge exchange collisions have been investigated for intermediate regimes, where no analytic theories are available. It is shown that collisional effects related to the ion orbital destruction (presence of extrema in ion flux collected on the particle surface and in particle potential and charge) are important for small particles, while they are totally absent for large particles. The potential distribution around the particle is quite well represented by a Yukawa form, but with an effective screening length that shows different dependences from the gas pressure for small and large particle size. Analytical fitting formulas of particle charge and potential and screening length depending on the particle radius parameter and on the Knudsen number have been obtained (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Transport of charged particle pulses in interplanetary magnetic fields

The charged particle scattering in the presence of a regular magnetic field is considered starting from the Boltzmann kinetic equation in the case of an arbitrary relation between the mean free path and the distance from a particle source. It is shown that the Green function for the kinetic equation can be represented as the sum of the distribution functions of non-scattered particles which propagate with the injection pitch angle and of the scattered ones. The obtained Green function of the Boltzmann equation and also the particle density describe the space-time-pitch angle cosmic ray distribution that corresponds to an instantaneous particle injection at a particular pitch angle.This work was supported by International Science Foundation (grant N UC 8000) and by Slovak Grant Agency for Science (grant No. 1353/95).     

Interaction between glow discharge plasma and dust particles

The effect of dust particle concentration on gas discharge plasma parameters was studied through development of a self-consistent kinetic model which is based on solving the Boltzmann equation for the electron distribution function. It was shown that an increase in the Havnes parameter causes an increase in the average electric field and ion density, as well as a decrease in the charge of dust particles and electron density in a dust particle cloud. Self-consistent simulations for a wide range of plasma and dust particle parameters produced several scaling laws: these are laws for dust particle potential and electric field as a function of dust particle concentration and radius, and the discharge current density. The simulation results demonstrate that the process of self-consistent accommodation of parameters of dust particles and plasma in condition of particle concentration growth causes a growth in the number of high-energy electrons in plasma, but not to depletion of electron distribution function.     

耗散气球模动力理论

本文从迴旋动力理论出发,较全面地研究了碰撞、热离子成分(中性束热离子或聚变α粒子)、粒子逆磁漂移、粒子拉莫尔半径和粒子捕获等动力效应对耗散气球模的影响。流体极限下的数值结果表明,离子有限拉莫尔半径、捕获粒子对气球模起稳定作用,碰撞则对气球模起解稳作用。此外,动力理论也得出了磁流体理论关于剪切能改善气球模稳定性的结论。 关键词：     

Formation of Suprathermal Particle Fluxes in a Strongly Turbulent Plasma

We consider the problem on the formation of suprathermal particle fluxes by electrostatic structures in strongly turbulent cosmic plasmas. It is shown that regions with a strong plasma turbulence can be large accelerators of charged particles. We give solutions of the stationary kinetic equation in a turbulent layer for different acceleration regimes and estimate the efficiency of diffusion over the longitudinal and transverse velocities of particles with respect to the magnetic field. The transverse diffusion in velocity space is more efficient for ions and leads to strong isotropization of ion fluxes. Electrons move almost along the magnetic field. We reveal the conditions under which the regular force in a nonuniform magnetic field influences the stochastic-acceleration process. The average energy of axial motion of the particles and the particle fluxes at large distances from the injection region are estimated. Ions and electrons can be accelerated up to comparable energies. We analyze the characteristic features of the motion of the relativistic-particle beams. It is shown that strong plasma turbulence can form particle beams with specific energies. The proposed mechanism is useful for explanation of the properties of energetic particles in cosmic plasmas with magnetic-field-aligned currents, e.g., in high-latitude regions of planetary magnetospheres, force-free configurations of the solar corona, and the solar wind.     

Brownian dynamics simulation of monolayer formation by deposition of colloidal particles: A kinetic study at high bulk particle concentration

Brownian dynamics simulations (BDS) of sedimentation and irreversible adsorption of colloidal particles on a planar surface were carried out at bulk particle volume fractions (φ) in the range 0.05 to 0.25. The sedimentation and adsorption of colloidal particles were simulated as a non-sequential process that allows simultaneous settling and adsorption of particles. A kinetic model for the formation of particle monolayers based on the available surface fraction (θ ( A )) is proposed to predict simulation results. The simulations show a value of 0.625 for the maximum fractional surface coverage (θ (∞)) and a monolayer structure insensitive to φ. However, the kinetic order of the monolayer formation process has a strong dependence with φ, changing from a value close to a unit, at low φ, to a value around two at high φ. This change in the kinetic reaction order is associated to differences of particle adsorption mechanism on the surface. At low φ values, the monolayer formation is achieved by independent adsorption of single particles and the reaction order is close to 1. At high φ values, the simultaneous adsorption of two particles on the surface leads to an increase of the reaction order to values close to 2.     

Particle dynamics during adiabatic expansion of a plasma bunch

The renormalization-group approach is used to obtain an exact solution to the self-consistent Vlasov kinetic equations for plasma particles in the quasi-neutral approximation. This solution describes the one-dimensional adiabatic expansion of a plasma bunch into a vacuum for arbitrary initial particle velocity distributions. Ion acceleration is studied for two-temperature Maxwellian and super-Gaussian initial electron distributions, which predetermine distinctly different ion spectra. The solution found is used to describe the acceleration of ions of two types. The relative acceleration efficiency of light and heavy ions as a function of atomic weights and number densities is analyzed. The solutions obtained are of practical importance in describing ion acceleration during the interaction of an ultrashort laser pulse with nanoplasma, for example, cluster plasma or plasma produced when thin foils are irradiated by a laser.     

Prediction of particle sticking efficiency for fly ash deposition at high temperatures

The tendency of ash particles to stick under high temperatures is dictated by the ash chemistry, particle physical properties, deposit surface properties and furnace operation conditions. A model has been developed in order to predict the particle sticking efficiency for fly ash deposition at high temperatures. The model incorporates the particle properties relevant to the ash chemistry, particle kinetic energy and furnace operation conditions and takes into consideration the partial sticking behaviour and the deposit layer. To test the model, the sticking behaviours of synthetic ash in a drop tube furnace are evaluated and the slagging formation from coal combustion in a down-fired furnace is modelled. Compared with the measurements, the proposed model presents reasonable prediction performance on the particle sticking behaviour and the ash deposition formation. Through a sensitivity analysis, furnace operation conditions (velocity and temperature), contact angle and particle size have been found to be the significant factors in controlling the sticking behaviours for the synthetic ash particles. The ash chemistry and furnace temperature dictate the wetting potential of the ash particles and the melting ability of the deposit surface; particle size and density not only control the particle kinetic energy, but also affect the particle temperature. The furnace velocity condition has been identified as being able to influence the selective deposition behaviour, where the maximum deposition efficiency moves to smaller particles when increasing the gas velocity. In addition, the thermophoresis effect on the arrival rate of the particles reduces with increasing the gas velocity. Further, increasing the melting degree of the deposit layer could greatly enhance the predicted deposition formation, in particular for the high furnace velocity condition.     

Charging of aerosol particles in the near free-molecule regime

The charging of small neutral and charged particles suspended in weakly ionized plasma is investigated under the assumption that the Coulomb + image forces give rise to the ion transport in the carrier plasma and define the rate of charging processes. Our approach is based on a BGK version of the kinetic equation [1,2] describing the ion transport in the presence of force fields created by the particle charge and the image force. A special type of the perturbation theory (with respect to the reciprocal Knudsen number) is used for calculating the rate of ion deposition onto neutral and charged particles. As the starting approximation, the free-molecule ion distribution with a floating ion flux is used for evaluating the collision term in the Boltzmann equation. The value of the ion flux as a function of the particle size is then fixed self-consistently from the solution of the Boltzmann equation with the approximated collision term. The expression for the ion flux J(a) to the spherical particle of radius a is derived in the form , where J_fm is the free-molecule flux (no carrier plasma) and is a correction factor taking into account the ion-molecular collisions. The latter is shown to never exceed unity and to depend weakly on the particle-ion interaction.Received: 29 December 2003, Published online: 15 April 2004PACS: 36.40.Wa Charged clusters - 82.30.Fi Ion-molecule, ion-ion, and charge-transfer reactions - 92.60.Mt Particles and aerosols     

各向同性湍流中颗粒引起湍流变动的直接模拟

本文通过直接数值模拟对均匀各向同性湍流中颗粒对湍流的变动作用进行了研究.颗粒相的体积分数很小而质量载荷足够大,以至于颗粒之间的相互作用可以忽略不计,而重点考虑颗粒与湍流间能量的交换。颗粒对湍流的反向作用使得湍动能的耗散率增强,以至于湍动能的衰减速率增大.湍动能的衰减速率随颗粒惯性的增大而增大。三维湍动能谱显示,颗粒对湍动能的影响在不同的尺度上是不均匀的。在低波数段,流体带动颗粒,而高波数段则相反.     

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.     

A particle-in-cell simulation of dust charging and shielding in lowpressure glow discharges

The transport of particles (“dust”) in low pressure electrical glow discharges is being studied in regard to its role in contaminating silicon wafers during plasma etching and deposition. Particles (10 s nm-μm) negatively charge in glow discharges and, to first order, appear to be massively large negative ions around which sheaths develop. The forces on particles in plasmas include electrostatic (drift of charged particles in electric fields) and viscous ion drag. The latter force is momentum transfer from ions to particles by either collisions or orbital motion. This force critically depends on the charge on the particle and the shape of the sheath surrounding the particle. In this work, we report on a pseudoparticle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of the transport of electrons and ions in the vicinity of dust particles in low pressure glow discharges. The simulation produces the electrical charge on the dust particle, the sheath structure around the dust particle and the orbital dynamics of the ions. A companion molecular dynamics simulation uses these parameters to produce ion-dust and electron-dust particle cross sections for momentum transfer and collection. Results will be discussed for charge, sheath thickness, cross sections and viscous ion drag forces on dust particles as a function of radius and plasma parameters     

Scaling laws for the spatial distributions of the plasma parameters in the positive column of a dc oxygen discharge

Comprehensive self-consistent simulations of the positive column plasma of a dc oxygen discharge are performed with the help of commercial CFDRC software (), which enables one to carry out computations in an arbitrary 3D geometry using fluid equations for heavy components and a kinetic equation for electrons. The main scaling laws for the spatial distributions of charged particles are determined. These scaling laws are found to be quite different in the parameter ranges that are dominated by different physical processes. At low pressures, both the electrons and negative ions in the inner discharge region obey a Boltzmann distribution; as a result, a flat profile of the electron density and a parabolic profile of the ion density are established there. In the ion balance, transport processes prevail, so that ion heating in an electric field dramatically affects the spatial distribution of the charged particles. At elevated pressures, the volume processes prevail in the balance of negative ions and the profiles of the charged particle densities in the inner region turn out to be similar to each other.     

基于模糊聚类算法的大气粒子激光电离质谱数据分析

实验室自行研制了一台大气气溶胶飞行时间激光质谱仪(ATOFLMS),它可以在线地对气溶胶单粒子进行物理和化学特性分析,利用双束连续激光对单个粒子的空气动力学粒径进行测量,并通过飞行时间完成单粒子化学成分的检测。该仪器在运行过程中将产生海量的实验数据,对这些数据的快速、自动处理并提取有价值的信息是整机系统的关键之一。文章介绍模糊聚类算法FCM(fuzzy c-means)在大气气溶胶单粒子聚类分析中的成功运用。利用该算法对连续24 h采集的室内空气气溶胶单粒子质谱数据进行了聚类分析,在得到的5个聚类结果中包含了无机的海盐粒子、矿物质粒子以及其他的三种二次气溶胶成分粒子类型。在对室内空气气溶胶粒子的粒径进行实时检测的结果表明室内可吸入颗粒物以细粒子为主,其中大于1 μm的粒子所占比重较小。小于1 μm的粒子均占95％以上, 在0.4～0.8 μm之间的粒子占据主要部分。     

An energy approach to the modelling of particle removal by pulsed laser irradiation

An energy model to explain particle removal mechanism has been developed. This model is based on a detailed investigation of contact deformation of a particle on a solid surface, as well as particle motion during the process of substrate surface expansion under uniform laser irradiation. Calculation results show that small particles mainly gain kinetic energy during pulsed laser irradiation, whereas large particles mainly gain elastic deforming potential energy. The particle removal condition is derived from the viewpoint of energy. The relationship of particle removal efficiency with laser fluence and particle size is discussed. Theoretical results are compared with experimental results. Received: 30 July 1998 / Accepted: 14 December 1998 / Published online: 17 March 1999     

Self-consistent current motion of electrons and ions inhigh-current plasma channel

This paper analyses a self-consistent current motion of charged particles in high-current plasma channel. Application of the results obtained to real current channels is possible provided that pair collisions do not considerably affect the current motion of plasma charged particles and the depth of the current layer is small as compared to the channel radius. The approximation adopted in this paper can be considered to be true, for instance, in the case of hydrogen channels with millimeter radius and electron energy of the order of 10 keV provided that the plasma concentration in them is in the range of 10 ¹⁷ cm^-3e<10²⁰ cm^-3. In the present paper, advantage is taken of a kinetic plasma model with electrons and ions in the form of particle beams whose motion is governed by the resulting self-consistent electromagnetic field. It is shown that in a plasma with sufficiently high particle concentration, when the collisionless skin depth is small as compared to the channel radius, the ion motion results in the negative electron contribution to the total channel current. Moreover, the ion component of the current exceeds the total current. This is accompanied by high-speed plasma motion in the form of the electroneutral axial flux, whose direction coincides with that of the total channel current     

The Microwave plasma process – a versatile process to synthesise nanoparticulate materials

The microwave plasma process inherently produces nanoparticulate powders with very narrow particle size distribution. During synthesis, the particles carry electric charges of equal sign. Therefore, by electrostatic repulsion, particle growth is reduced and agglomeration thwarted. This is shown by gas kinetic considerations and experimental results. Furthermore, this process allows coating of the particles with organic or inorganic phases, reducing interaction of different particles. This makes it possible to technically exploit properties, characteristic for isolated particles. Additionally, the coating process allows the combination of different properties such as superparamagnetism and luminescence, as it is demonstrated in different examples.     

Dust charging and levitating in a sheath of plasma containing energetic particles

The structure of the sheath in the presence of energetic particles is investigated in the multi-fluid framework. Based on the orbital motion limited(OML) theory, the dust grain charging inside the sheath of plasma containing energetic particles is examined for the carbon wall, and then the effect of the energetic particles on the stationary dust particle inside the sheath is discussed through the trapping potential energy. It is found that with the increase of energetic ion concentration or energy,the size of dust staying in levitation equilibrium decreases and the levitating position is much closer to the wall. In the case of deuterium ions as energetic ions, the bigger dust particle can be trapped by the sheath than in the case of hydrogen ions as energetic ions. When the energetic electron component is present, the levitating position of dust particle in the sheath depends strongly on the energetic electron. The levitating dust particle is closer to the wall as the energetic electron energy or concentration is increased. In addition, with the increase of temperature of thermal background ion, the size of dust particle trapped by the sheath decreases and the levitating positions of dust particles with the same size radius inside the sheath move toward the wall. Our results can be helpful in investigating the property of the sheath where the energetic particle component is present.     

Relativistic Single Particle Kinetic Theory

Single particle kinetic theory is the study of the dynamics of a single particle moving through a medium. The only mechanism for change in this theory is through two-body collisions between the single particle and the particles of the medium given by the collision term of Boltzmann's equation in kinetic theory. This article contains a summery of relativistic dynamics and a method of projecting the relativistic dynamical system into phase space. This enables us to express relativistic kinetic theory in terms of phase space variables and also to apply the techniques of approximation in the non-relativistic theory to the relativistic domain.