Order-Disorder Structures in Strongly Coupled Dusty Plasmas: from Coulomb Crystals to Gases

Lin I；Chih-Hui Chiang；J. H. Chu；Wen-Tau Jaun

Chinese Journal of Physics

33卷5期（1995 / 10 / 01）

453 - 465

英文

Dusty plasma system consists of fine particles immersed in a plasma background. The large amount of negative charges on the fine particles can turn the system into a strongly coupled Coulomb system with proper spatial and temporal scales for direct observation. In this work, we demonstrate the first direct observation of Coulomb crystals with different structures, liquids, gases, defect motion and interaction, and collective excitations in a dusty plasma system with glass particles generated through the gas phase chemical reactions between silane and oxygen gases in a glow discharge background. This study opens a new environment for the experimental studies of the microscopic dynamical behavior of the ordered and disordered structures in strongly coupled Coulomb systems.