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Dust Particle Alignments in a Plasma Sheath
Author(s) -
Samarian A. A.,
Vladimirov S. V.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
contributions to plasma physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.531
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1521-3986
pISSN - 0863-1042
DOI - 10.1002/ctpp.200910026
Subject(s) - wake , levitation , hysteresis , plasma , instability , mechanics , particle (ecology) , asymmetry , materials science , physics , condensed matter physics , geology , oceanography , quantum mechanics , magnet
Abstract Stability of vertical and horizontal arrangement of dust particles levitating in an rf sheath are discussed. Disruptions of particle arrangements are triggered by changing the discharge controlling parameters (pressure and peak‐to‐peak voltage) as well as by applying an additional bias to the confining electrode or by a laser beam. It is established that the most important controlling parameter is the relative strength of the horizontal and the vertical confinements. The clear hysteretic phenomena are observed for the horizontal‐vertical‐horizontal transition cycle. This hysteretic behavior can be attributed to the stabilizing (for the vertical alignment) and destabilizing (for the horizontal alignment) influence of the plasma wake potential. The width of the hysteresis increases with decreasing pressure thus indicating on stronger influence of the wake phenomena for low pressures. The horizontal alignment instability at the critical confinement can provide a new diagnostic tool for determining the wake parameters (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)