The impacts of dust density inhomogeneity and dust size distribution (DSD) on linear dust acoustic (DA) wave propagation have been investigated theoretically in an inhomogeneous unmagnetized dusty plasma having powerlaw DSD. Two different types of wave modes, viz. slow and fast mode, are found to propagate in this inhomogeneous medium. It is shown that the linear dispersion characteristics of the DA waves are substantially affected by the DSD and density inhomogeneity. Also, it is found that the phase velocity increases with increasing dust density.
It is demonstrated that low frequency shear modes in a strongly coupled, inhomogeneous, dusty plasma can grow on account of an instability involving the dynamical charge fluctuations of the dust grains. The instability is driven by the gradient of the equilibrium dust charge density and is associated with the finite charging time of the dust grains. The present calculations, carried out in the generalized hydrodynamic viscoelastic formalism, also bring out important modifications in the threshold and growth rate of the instability due to collective effects associated with coupling to the compr…
The properties of electrostatic transverse shear waves propagating in a strongly coupled dusty plasma with an equilibrium density gradient are examined using the generalized hydrodynamic equation. In the usual kinetic limit, the resulting equation has similarity to zero energy Schrodinger's equation. This has helped in obtaining some exact eigenmode solutions in both cartesian and cylindrical geometries for certain nontrivial density profiles. The corresponding velocity profiles and the discrete eigenfrequencies are obtained for several interesting situations and their physics discussed.
An experimental investigation of the propagation characteristics of shock waves in an inhomogeneous dusty plasma is carried out in the Dusty Plasma Experimental (DPEx) device. A homogeneous dusty plasma, made up of poly-dispersive kaolin particles, is initially formed in a DC glow discharge Argon plasma by maintaining a dynamic equilibrium of the pumping speed and the gas feeding rate. Later, an equilibrium density inhomogeneity in the dust fluid is created by introducing an imbalance in the original dynamic equilibrium. Non-linear wave structures are then excited in this inhomogeneous dusty p…
Real dusty crystals are inhomogeneous due to the presence of external forces. We suggest approximations for calculations of different types of inhomogeneous DC (chain and DC with a few slabs) in the equilibrium state. The results are in a good agreement with experimental results and can be used as an effective diagnostic method for many dusty systems.
In this paper we introduce an algebraic form of the dispersion relation for a non ideal inhomogeneous dusty plasma in order to improve drastically the calculation of the drift instability growth rate. This method makes use of the multipole approximation of the Z dispersion function, previously published, and valid for the entire range. A careful analysis of the solutions spectra of this kind of polynomial equation permits us to calculate easily the growth rate of the drift instability for the ion-dust and dust acoustic mode. The value of the parallel to magnetic field wavelength for which the …
In order to give a basis for the structure and correlation analysis of fine particle (dusty) plasma and colloidal suspensions, thermodynamic treatment of mixtures of macroscopic and microscopic charged particles within the adiabatic response of the latter is extended to include the case where the system is finite and weakly inhomogeneous. It is shown that the effective potential for macroscopic particles is composed of two elements: mutual Yukawa repulsion and a confining (attractive) Yukawa potential from their `shadow' (the average charge density of macroscopic particles multiplied by the mi…
It is well known that the form of grain size distribution strongly influences the linear dielectric response of a dusty plasma. In previous results [IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 29, 182 (2001)], it was shown that for a class of size distributions, there is an equivalence to a Lorentzian distribution of mono-sized particles. The electrostatic response to a slowly moving test charge, using a second order approximation can then be found [Phys. Lett. A 305, 79 (2002)]. It is also well known [Phys. Plasmas 10, 3484 (2003)] that the dynamical charging of grains in a dusty plasma enhances the shielding of…
The influence of an inhomogeneous screened electric field on the charging of dust grains in a thermal dusty plasma is studied. The electric field of charged grains is considered within the cell approach, where the problem is reduced to a one-particle one. Within the model of quasichemical equilibrium, which is generalized to the case of an inhomogeneous screened electric field, we obtain the value of mean charge of dust grains, the distribution function of grains over charges, and the variance of this distribution. We also give the criterion of an inhomogeneity of the electric field and show t…
Within the approximation of dominant charging collisions the explicit microscopic calculations of the Fokker-Planck kinetic coefficients for highly-charged grains moving in plasma are performed. It is shown that due to ion absorption by grain the friction coefficient can be negative and the appropriate threshold value of the grain charge is found. The stationary solutions of the Fokker-Planck equation with the velocity dependent kinetic coefficient are obtained and the considerable deviation of such solutions from the Maxwellian distribution is established.
Dusty plasma experiments can be performed quite easily in strong coupling regime. In our previous work [Phys. Plasmas 21, 073705 (2014)], we numerically explored such plasmas with constant density and observed the transverse shear (TS) waves from a rotating vortex. Laboratory dusty plasmas are good examples of homogeneous plasmas however heterogeneity (e.g. density, temperature, charge) may be due to the existence of voids, different domains with different orientations, presence of external forces like magnetic and/or electric, size/charge imbalance, etc. Here, we examine how the density heter…
We report an experimental observation of multiple co--rotating vortices in a extended dust column in the background of non--uniform diffused plasma. Inductively coupled RF discharge is initiated in the background of argon gas in the source region which later found to diffuse in the main experimental chamber. A secondary DC glow discharge plasma is produced to introduce the dust particles into the plasma. These micron sized poly-disperse dust particles get charged in the plasma environment and transported by the ambipolar electric field of the diffused plasma and found to confine in the potenti…
Nonlinear frequency response analysis is a widely used method for determining system dynamics in the presence of nonlinearities. In dusty plasmas, the plasma-grain interaction (e.g., grain charging fluctuations) can be characterized by a single particle nonlinear response analysis, while grain-grain nonlinear interactions can be determined by a multi-particle nonlinear response analysis. Here, a machine learning-based method to determine the equation of motion in the nonlinear response analysis for dust particles in plasmas is presented. Searching the parameter space in a Bayesian manner allow…
A radiofrequency glow discharge plasma, which is polluted with a certain number of dusty grains, is studied. In addition to various dusty plasma phenomena, several specific colloidal effects should be considered. We focus on radiometric forces, which are caused by inhomogeneous temperature distribution. Aside from thermophoresis, the role of temperature distribution in dusty plasmas is an open question. It is shown that inhomogeneous heating of the grain by ion flows results in a new photophoresis like force, which is specific for dusty discharges. This radiometric force can be observable unde…
Expressions for the ion and electron thermal forces acting on a charged grain, suspended in a weakly ionized plasma subject to temperature gradients, are derived. The main emphasize is on the conditions pertinent to the investigations of complex (dusty) plasmas in gas discharges. Estimates show that for the electron temperature gradients $\sim {\mathcal O}$(eV/cm) typically encountered in laboratory gas discharges, the electron thermal force can become an important player among other forces acting on micron-size grains.
In this paper, the collective dynamics of the large aspect ratio dusty plasma is studied over a wide range of discharge parameters. An inductively coupled diffused plasma, which creates an electrostatic trap to confine the negatively charged grains, is used to form a large volume (or large aspect ratio) dusty plasma at low pressure. For introducing the dust grains into the potential well, a unique technique using a secondary DC glow discharge plasma is employed. The dust dynamics is recorded in a 2-dimension (2D) plane at a given axial location. The dust fluid exhibits wave like behavior at lo…
It is shown that the grain mass fluctuation, which is due to the grain sputtering by the attracted ions, may be at the root of a new instability in infinite, unmagnetized and homogeneous dusty plasmas. The growth rate is determined in the framework of two plasma models, viz., a cold and electron depleted plasma, and a plasma where electrons and ions are taken Boltzmannian. This instability may affect the Jeans as well as the agglomeration instabilities.
The standard nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) is one of the elegant equations to find the information about the modulational instability criteria of dust-ion-acoustic (DIA) waves (DIAWs) and associated DIA rogue waves (DIARWs) in a three-component dusty plasma medium having inertialess super-thermal kappa distributed electrons, and inertial warm positive ions and negative dust grains. It can be seen that under the consideration of inertial warm ions along with inertial negatively charged dust grains, the plasma system supports both fast and slow DIA modes. The charge state and number dens…
In this paper we consider the influence of dust charge fluctuations on damping of the dust-ion-acoustic waves. Fluid approximation of longitudinal electrostatic waves in unmagnetized plasmas is considered. We show that for a weak acoustic wave the attenuation depends on a phenomenological charging coefficient.
Charges on the dust grains immersed in a plasma vary in time. We follow the hydrodynamic approach to obtain dispersion relations for some low frequency electrostatic modes, taking into account charge fluctuation on the dust. We have used the description of the one dimensional fully electromagnetic particle code. There exists one spatial dimension and three velocity components. This is usually referred to as a model. Our analysis shows that the presence of the dust grains causes different effects in different frequency regimes.
Star formation occurs in dark molecular regions where the number density of hydrogen nuclei, nH, exceeds 10^4 cc and the fractional ionization is 10^-7 or less. Dust grains with sizes ranging up to tenths of microns and perhaps down to tens of nanometers contain just under one percent of the mass. Recombination on grains is important for the removal of gas phase ions, which are produced by cosmic rays penetrating the dark regions. Collisions of neutrals with charged grains contribute significantly to the coupling of the magnetic field to the neutral gas. Consequently, the dynamics of the grain…
Within the kinetic approach velocity and charge distributions of grains in stationary dusty plasmas are calculated and the relations between the effective temperatures of such distributions and plasma parameters are established. It is found that the effective temperature which determines the velocity grain distribution could be anomalously large due to the action of accelerating ionic bombarding force. The possibility to apply the results obtained to the explanation of the increasing grain temperature in the course of the Coulomb-crystal melting by reduction of the gas pressure is discussed. T…
The weakly nonlinear regime of transverse paramagnetic dust grain oscillations in dusty (complex) plasma crystals is discussed. The nonlinearity, which is related to the sheath electric/magnetic field(s) and to the inter--grain (electrostatic/magnetic dipole) interactions, is shown to lead to the generation of phase harmonics and, in the case of propagating transverse dust-lattice modes, to the modulational instability of the carrier wave due to self--interaction. The stability profile depends explicitly on the form of the electric and magnetic fields in the plasma sheath. The long term evolut…
A simple minimally perturbative method is introduced which provides the ability to experimentally measure both the radial confining potential and the interaction potential between two individual dust particles, levitated in the sheath of a radio-frequency (RF) argon discharge. In this technique, a single dust particle is dropped into the plasma sheath to interact with a second individual dust particle already situated at the system's equilibrium point, without introducing any external perturbation. The resulting data is analyzed using a method employing a polynomial fit to the particle displac…
The structure of a discharge across a magnetic field in a dusty plasma is analysed. The dust macroparticles are negatively charged, but are unmagnetized because of their high mass. The electrons are highly magnetized, and the ions have intermediate magnetization. This results in different transport rates of the different species across the magnetic field. Depending on the size of the magnetic field, and the relative charge on the different species, the dust grains can be the dominant current carrier. The space charge clouds near the electrodes will then be determined by the relative mobility o…
Ground state structures of finite, cylindrically confined two-dimensional Yukawa systems composed of charged superparamagnetic dust grains in an external magnetic field are investigated numerically, using molecular dynamic simulations and lattice summation methods. The ground state configuration of the system is identified using, as an approximation, the experimentally obtained shape of the horizontal confinement potential in a classical single layer dusty plasma experiment with non-magnetic grains. Results are presented for the dependence of the number density and lattice parameters of the du…
The grains immersed in plasma get eroded by the ions falling onto them. As a consequence, they exhibit self-consistent mass fluctuations due to perturbations in the plasma charging currents. The grain mass is then a dynamical variable. The modifications in the plasma dielectric properties are investigated and new ultra-low frequency modes are shown to exist in the plasma.
We consider the influence of dust charge fluctuations on damping of the dust-ion-acoustic waves. It is assumed that all grains have equal masses but charges are not constant in time - they may fluctuate in time. The dust charges are not really independent of the variations in the plasma potentials. All modes will influence the charging mechanism, and feedback will lead to several new interesting and unexpected phenomena. The charging of the grains depends on local plasma characteristics. If the waves disturb these characteristic, then charging of the grains is affected and the grain charge is …
There is a quickly increasing wealth of experimental data on so-called dusty plasmas i. e. ionized gases or usual plasmas that contain micron sized charged particles. Interest in these structures is driven both by their importance in many astrophysical as well as commercial situations. Among them are linear and nonlinear wave phenomena. We consider the influence of dust charge fluctuations on stability of the ion-acoustic waves when the stream of particles is present. It is assumed that all grains of dust have equal masses but charges are not constant in time-they may fluctuate in time. The du…
The plasma is an ionized gas that responses collectively to any external (or internal) perturbations. Introducing micron-sized solid dust grains into plasma makes it more interesting. The solid grains acquire large negative charges on their surface and exhibits collective behavior similar to the ambient plasma medium. Some remarkable features of the charged dust grain medium (dusty plasma) allow us to use it as a model system to understand some complex phenomena at a microscopic level. In this perspective paper, the author highlights the role of dusty plasma experiments as a learning tool at u…
It is shown that absorption of ions by the dust grain may reduce the effective translational temperature of the dust component below the ambient gas temperature.
We examine linear dust acoustic waves (DAWs) in a dusty plasma with strongly correlated dust grains, and discuss possibility of a twisted DA vortex beam carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM). For our purposes, we use the Boltzmann distributed electron and ion density perturbations, the dust continuity and generalized viscoelastic dust momentum equations, and Poisson's equation to obtain a dispersion relation for the modified DAWs. The effects of the polarization force, strong dust couplings, and dust charge fluctuations on the DAW spectrum are examined. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the D…
Rayleigh-Taylor and Buoyancy-driven instabilities are very common instabilities for an inhomogeneous medium. We examine here how these instabilities grow for incompressible viscoelastic fluids like a strongly coupled dusty plasma by using incompressible generalized hydrodynamic (i-GHD) fluid model. Since the dust particles are pretty massive, the gravitational attraction of earth has a significant role in its dynamics. In this paper the acceleration due to gravity g and the role of strong coupling in the context of gravitationally stratified dusty plasma fluid have been considered. We find tha…
The basic features of dust-acoustic (DA) waves (DAWs) in four component dusty plasma system (containing inertial cold and hot dust grains, inertialess non-extensive ions and electrons) have been theoretically investigated by deriving the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The analytic analysis under consideration demonstrates two types of modes, namely, fast and slow DA modes. The unstable domain for the fast DA mode, which can be recognized by the critical wave number ($k_c$), gives rise to the DA rogue waves (DARWs). It is observed that the amplitude and width of the DARWs are significantly mod…
Dust particles immersed within a plasma environment, such as those found in planetary rings or cometary environments, will acquire an electric charge. If the ratio of interparticle potential energy to average kinetic energy is high enough the particles will form either a 'liquid' structure with short-range ordering or a crystalline structure with long-range ordering. Since their discovery in laboratory environments in 1994, such crystals have been the subject of a variety of experimental, theoretical, and numerical investigations. Laboratory experiments analyzing the behavior of dust grains in…
We present a fully nonlinear theory for dust acoustic (DA) shocks and DA solitary pulses in a strongly coupled dusty plasma, which have been recently observed experimentally by Heinrich et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 115002 (2009)], Teng et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 245005 (2009)], and Bandyopadhyay et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 065006 (2008)]. For this purpose, we use a generalized hydrodynamic model for the strongly coupled dust grains, accounting for arbitrary large amplitude dust number density compressions and potential distributions associated with fully nonlinear nonstationary DA waves.…
Dusty plasma crystals have traditionally been observed and studied in radio frequency (RF) discharge plasmas and their formation in a DC glow discharge plasma remains experimentally challenging. We report the first ever observation of a stable dusty plasma Coulomb crystal in the cathode sheath region of a DC glow discharge plasma. The observations are made in the DPEx device where crystals of mono-disperse Melamine Formaldehyde grains are produced in the background of an Argon plasma. The crystalline nature of the structure is confirmed through a host of measurements that includes the radial p…
A two-dimensional dust crystal levitated in the sheath of a modified Gaseous Electronics Conference (GEC) reference cell is manipulated by heating or cooling the lower electrode. The dust charge is obtained from top-view pictures of the crystal using a previously developed analytical model. By assuming a simple force balance, and measuring the radial confining force, the vertical electric field profile in the sheath is reconstructed. The dust crystal is shown to levitate on the plasma side of the Bohm point. Finally, it is shown that the ion drag plays an important role in the vertical force b…
An investigation of dust-acoustic solitary waves in unmagnetized dusty plasma whose constituents are inertial charged dust grains, Boltzmannian electrons and nonthermal ions has been conducted. The pseudo potential as well as the reductive perturbation methods have been used in high and small amplitude limits. The existence of solitary waves of a positive as well as a negative potential is reported.
The void, which is a dust-free region inside the dust cloud in the plasma, results from a balance of the electrostatic force and the ion drag force on a dust particulate. The ion drag force having numerous forms, some of which are based on models whereas others are driven from first principles. To explain the generation of voids, Avinash et al.[K. Avinash, A. Bhattacharjee, and S. Hu, AIP.CP649, III ICPDP, (2002)p121]proposed a time-dependent nonlinear model that describes the void as a result of an instability. We augment this model by incorporating the grain drift and by replacing the ion-dr…
We study the nonlinear propagation of dust-ion acoustic (DIA) solitary waves in an unmagnetized dusty plasma which consists of electrons, both positive and negative ions and negatively charged immobile dust grains. Starting from a set of hydrodynamic equations with the ion thermal pressures and ion kinematic viscosities included, and using a standard reductive perturbation method, the Kadomtsev-Petviashivili Burgers (KPB) equation is derived, which governs the evolution of DIA shocks. A stationary solution of the KPB equation is obtained and its properties are analysed with different plasma nu…
In this paper, by comparing the time scales associated with the velocity relaxation and correlation time of the random force due to dust charge fluctuations, memory effects in the velocity relaxation of an isolated dust particle exposed to the random force due to dust charge fluctuations are considered, and the velocity relaxation process of the dust particle is considered as a non-Markovian stochastic process. Considering memory effects in the velocity relaxation process of the dust particle yields a retarded friction force, which is introduced by a memory kernel in the fractional Langevin eq…
An analytical model is presented for the description of nonlinear dust-ion-acoustic waves propagating in an unmagnetized, collisionless, three component plasma composed of electrons, ions and inertial dust grains. The formulation relies on a Lagrangean approach of the plasma fluid model. The modulational stability of the wave amplitude is investigated. Different types of localized envelope electrostatic excitations are shown to exist.
The collective dynamics of annulus dusty plasma formed between a co-centric conducting (non-conducting) disk and ring configuration is studied in a strongly magnetized radio-frequency (rf) discharge. A superconducting electromagnet is used to introduce a homogeneous magnetic field to the dusty plasma medium. In absence of the magnetic field, dust grains exhibit thermal motion around their equilibrium position. The dust grains start to rotate in anticlockwise direction with increasing magnetic field (B $>$ 0.02 T), and the constant value of the angular frequency at various strengths of magnetic…
Instabilities of ion-acoustic waves in a dusty plasma with electron-drift, collisional, and dust charge fluctuations effects, have been investigated. The regimes are clearly marked out where the theory is applicable. The critical electron-drift velocity required to drive the instability is predicted. It is also shown that electron thermal conductivity and charged grains concentration enhance the growth of the ion-acoustic mode whereas ion-viscosity, ion-thermal conductivity, and dust charge fluctuations have a stabilizing effect.
A rigorous theoretical investigation is made to study the characteristics of dust-acoustic (DA) waves (DAWs) in an electron depleted unmagnetized opposite polarity dusty plasma system that contains super-thermal ($κ$-distributed) ions, mobile positively and negatively charged dust grains for the first time. The reductive perturbation method is employed to obtain the NLSE to explore the modulational instability (MI) conditions for DAWs as well as the formation and characteristics of gigantic rogue waves. The nonlinear and dispersion properties of the dusty plasma medium are the prime reasons be…
The nonlinear propagation of small but finite amplitude dust ion-acoustic waves (DIAWs) in an ion-beam driven plasma with Boltzmannian electrons, positive ions and stationary charged dust grains, is studied by using the standard reductive perturbation technique (RPT). It is shown that there exist two critical values $(γ_{c1}$ and $γ_{c2})$ of ion-beam to ion phase speed ratio $(γ)$, beyond which the beam generated solitons are not possible. The effects of the parameters, namely $γ$, the ratio of the ion-beam to plasma ion density $(μ_{i})$, the dust to ion density ratio $(μ_{d})$ as well as th…
We study the secondary electron emissions induced by the impact of electrons on dust grains and the resulting dust charging processes in the nonequilibrium dusty plasma with power-law distributions. We derive new expressions of the secondary emitted electron flux and the dust charging currents that are generalized by the power-law q-distributions, where the nonlinear core functions are numerically studied for the nonextensive parameter q. Our numerical analyses show that the power-law q-distribution of the primary electrons has a significant effect on the secondary emitted electron flux as wel…
The paper reports on the dynamics of a 3-dimensional dusty plasma in a strong magnetic field. An electrostatic potential well created by a conducting or non-conducting ring in the rf discharge confines the charged dust particles. In the absence of the magnetic field, dust grains exhibit a thermal motion about their equilibrium position. As the magnetic field crosses a threshold value (B $>$ 0.02 T), the edge particles start to rotate and form a vortex in the vertical plane. At the same time, the central region particles either exhibit thermal motion or $\vec{E} \times \vec{B}$ motion in the ho…
Collective response of the plasma medium is well known and has been explored extensively in several contexts. The single particle response is typically treated as collisional interactions leading to dissipative effects. In this manuscript a 2D molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of dusty plasma with Yukawa interactions amidst dust grains have been considered in a strongly coupled regime. It has been shown that disturbances induced in the crystal by introducing highly charged particle elicit both collective and single particle responses. The single particle collisional interaction often generate…
The formation of dust ion-acoustic shocks (DIASs) in a four-component quantum plasma whose constituents are electrons, both positive and negative ions and immobile charged dust grains, is studied. The effects of both the dissipation due to kinematic viscosity and the dispersion caused by the charge separation as well as the quantum tunneling due to the Bohm potential are taken into account. The propagation of small but finite amplitude dust ion-acoustic waves (DIAWs) is governed by the Korteweg-de Vries-Burger (KdVB) equation which exhibits both oscillatory and monotonic shocks depending not o…
A viscous dusty plasma containing Kappa distributed electrons, positive warm viscous ions and constant negatively charged dust grains with viscosity have been considered to study the modes of dust ion acoustic waves (DIAWs) theoretically and numerically. The derivations and basic features of shock and solitary waves with different plasma parameters like Mach number, finite temperature coefficient, unperturbed dust streaming velocity, kinematic viscosity of dust etc. of this DIAWs mode have been performed. Considering the dynamical equation from Korteweg de Vries(KdV) equation, a phase portrait…
A new method called `Configurational Temperature' is introduced in the context of dusty plasma, where the temperature of the dust particles, submerged in the plasma, can be measured directly from the positional information of the individual dust particles and the interaction potential between the dust grains. This method does not require the velocity information of individual particles which is a key parameter to measure the dust temperature in the conventional method. The technique is initially tested using two dimensional OpenMP parallel Molecular Dynamics and Monte-Carlo simulation and then…
The nature of long-range interactions between dust grains in plasma is discussed. The dust grain interaction potential within a cell model of dusty plasma is introduced. The attractive part of intergrain potential is described by multipole interaction between two electro-neutral cells. This allowed us to draw an analogy with molecular liquids where the attraction between molecules is determined by dispersion forces. The main ideas of the fluctuation theory for electrostatic field in a cell model are formulated, and the dominating contribution to the attractive part of intergrain potential is o…
In this work we investigate the characteristics of the group velocity of obliquely propagating Alfvén waves in a dusty plasma typical of a stellar wind. The dispersion relation is derived with the aid of the kinetic theory for a magnetized dusty plasma consisting of electrons and ions, with distribution of momenta described by a Maxwellian function. The dust particles are considered to be immobile and have all the same size; they are electrically charged by absorption of plasma particles via inelastic collisions and by photoionization. We numerically solve the dispersion relation and calculate…
