Particle flows in a dc discharge in laboratory and microgravity conditions

Abstract

We describe a series of experiments on dust particles flows in a positive column of a horizontal dc discharge operating in laboratory and microgravity conditions. The main observation is that the particle flow velocities in laboratory experiments are systematically higher than in microgravity experiments, for otherwise identical discharge conditions. The paper provides an explanation for this interesting and unexpected observation. The explanation is based on a physical model, which properly takes into account main plasma-particle interaction mechanisms relevant to the described experimental study. Comparison of experimentally measured particle velocities and those calculated using the proposed model demonstrates reasonable agreement, both in laboratory and microgravity conditions, in the entire range of discharge parameters investigated.

9 pages, 7 figures

References in corpus (4)

• On the Wake Structure in Streaming Complex Plasmas
• Fluid-solid phase transitions in 3D complex plasmas under microgravity conditions
• Fully self-consistent ion-drag force calculations for dust in collisional plasmas with external electric field
• Ionization enhanced ion collection by a small floating grain in plasmas

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Particle charge in PK-4 dc discharge from ground-based and microgravity experiments
• Interparticle attraction in 2D complex plasmas
• Three-dimensional structure of a string-fluid complex plasma
• Ion drift instability in a strongly coupled collisional complex plasma
• Wakes in inhomogeneous plasmas
• Modified Frost formula for the mobilities of positive ions in their parent gases
• Spatial distribution of Dust Density Wave Properties in Fluid Complex Plasmas