Dusty plasma

A dusty plasma is a plasma containing micrometer (10−6) to nanometer (10−9) sized particles suspended in it. Dust particles are charged and the plasma and particles behave as a plasma.[1][2] Dust particles may form larger particles resulting in "grain plasmas". Due to the additional complexity of studying plasmas with charged dust particles, dusty plasmas are also known as complex plasmas.[3]: 2 

Dusty plasmas are encountered in:

Dusty plasmas are interesting because the presence of particles significantly alters the charged particle equilibrium leading to different phenomena. It is a field of current research. Electrostatic coupling between the grains can vary over a wide range so that the states of the dusty plasma can change from weakly coupled (gaseous) to crystalline. Such plasmas are of interest as a non-Hamiltonian system of interacting particles and as a means to study generic fundamental physics of self-organization, pattern formation, phase transitions, and scaling.

  1. ^ Mendis, D. A. (September 1979). "Dust in cosmic plasma environments". Astrophysics and Space Science. 65 (1): 5–12. Bibcode:1979Ap&SS..65....5M. doi:10.1007/BF00643484. S2CID 121972351.
  2. ^ Hill, J. R.; Mendis, D. A. (August 1979). "Charged dust in the outer planetary magnetospheres. I - Physical and dynamical processes". Moon and the Planets. 21 (1): 3–16. Bibcode:1979M&P....21....3H. doi:10.1007/BF00897050. S2CID 125321897.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference IntroShukla was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung". Archived from the original on 2011-05-12. Retrieved 2012-09-30.
  5. ^ Morfill, G. E.; Ivlev, Alexei (2009). "Complex plasmas: An interdisciplinary research field". Reviews of Modern Physics. 81 (4): 1353–1404. Bibcode:2009RvMP...81.1353M. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.81.1353.