Thermal energy density of dust in dusty plasmas: experiment and theory

Phase transition of three-dimensional finite-sized charged dust clusters in a plasma environment

The dynamics of a harmonically trapped three-dimensional Yukawa ball of charged dust particles immersed in plasma is investigated as function of external magnetic field and Coulomb coupling parameter using molecular dynamics simulation. It is shown that the harmonically trapped dust particles organize themselves into nested spherical shells. The particles start rotating in a coherent order as the magnetic field reaches a critical value corresponding to the coupling parameter of the system of dust particles. The magnetically controlled charged dust cluster of finite size undergoes a first-order phase transition from disordered to ordered phase. At sufficiently high coupling and strong magnetic field, the vibrational mode of this finite-sized charged dust cluster freezes, and the system retains only rotational motion.

Computer tomography of large dust clouds in complex plasmas

The dust density is a central parameter of a dusty plasma. Here, a tomography setup for the determination of the three-dimensionally resolved density distribution of spatially extended dust clouds is presented. The dust clouds consist of micron-sized particles confined in a radio frequency argon plasma, where they fill almost the entire discharge volume. First, a line-of-sight integrated dust density is obtained from extinction measurements, where the incident light from an LED panel is scattered and absorbed by the dust. Performing these extinction measurements from many different angles allows the reconstruction of the 3D dust density distribution, analogous to a computer tomography in medical applications.