Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help

P: Plasmaphysik

P 11: Dusty Plasmas and Low Temperature Discharges (Poster Session)

P 11.1: Poster

Thursday, April 5, 2001, 12:30–15:00, AT2

Three-dimensional drifting particle structures in dusty plasmas — •Ciprian Zafiu, Andre Melzer, and Alexander Piel — Institut für Experimentelle und Angewandte Physik, christian Albrechts Universität Kiel, 24098 Kiel, Germany

Dusty plasma is a complex structure that combines both plasma and microscopic particles. The particles are immersed into the plasma in order to study various plasma properties and interactions of these particles with the plasma environment. Because of the gravitational force, micrometric particles can form only two-dimensional or almost-planar structures in typical RF discharges. In order to remove the influence of this external force, a new type of experiment was designed, where micron-sized spherical particles are dropped into an elongated inductive/capacitive RF plasma under free fall conditions. The particle behaviour and group structures and dynamics will be analysed here.