Experimental observation of a first order phase transition in a complex plasma mono-layer crystal
arXiv:2004.00213 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.101.043209
Abstract
The formation and melting of a mono-layered charged dust particle crystal in a DC glow discharge Argon plasma is studied. The nature of the melting/formation process is established as a first order phase transition from the nature of the variations in the Coulomb coupling parameter, the dust temperature, the structural order parameter and from the existence of a hysteresis behavior. Our experimental results are distinctly different from existing theoretical predictions for 2D crystals based on the KTHNY mechanism or the Grain boundary induced melting and indicate a novel mechanism that is akin to a fluctuation induced first order phase transition that has not been observed before in complex plasmas.
The manuscript contains 6 pages, 5 figures. This manuscript is accepted for publication in PRE, 2020