Particle charge in the bulk of gas discharges.

An experimental determination of particle charge in a bulk dc discharge plasma covering a wide range of neutral gas pressures, was recently reported [S. Ratynskaia, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 085001 (2004)]. The charges obtained were several times smaller than the predictions of collisionless orbital motion limited theory. This discrepancy was attributed to the effect of ion-neutral collisions. In the present paper a more detailed description of this experiment is provided and additional experimental results obtained with particles of different sizes are reported. The measurements are compared with molecular dynamics simulations of particle charging for conditions similar to those of the experiment, with other available experimental data on particle charge in the bulk of gas discharges, and with a simple analytical model accounting for ion-neutral collisions. All the considered evidence indicates that ion-neutral collisions represent a very important factor, which significantly affects (reduces) the particle charge under typical discharge conditions.

Measurements of anomalous particle and energy fluxes in a magnetized plasma.

Electrostatic probe measurements of low frequency plasma fluctuations and anomalous particle and energy flux densities in a magnetized plasma are presented. A method allowing the simultaneous recording of instantaneous electric field, electron density, and temperature is invoked. The method is applied to flux density measurements in a weakly ionized, low beta plasma created in a toroidal device without magnetic rotational transform. It is also used to identify modes belonging to different dispersion branches and to obtain the dispersion relations for these modes. For the plasma states studied, the phase velocities and the cross phase between the electron density and electric field agree with those predicted from a local, linear stability analysis for electrostatic flute modes and drift waves. The instability threshold, however, is one order of magnitude higher than predicted by theory for unsheared flow. The fluxes measured are consistent with the estimated ionization rate.

Soft mean spherical approximation for dusty plasma liquids: One-component Yukawa systems with plasma shielding.

The structure and thermodynamics of strongly coupled dusty plasmas are investigated with the soft mean spherical approximation. This integral theory approach is analytically solvable for Yukawa pair interactions yielding a closed-form solution for the direct correlation function. The pair correlation function, the structure factor, and basic thermodynamic quantities are calculated for a wide range of parameters. Exact consistency between the "energy"-"virial" thermodynamic routes and approximate consistency between the "energy"-"compressibility" paths is demonstrated. Comparison with extensive molecular dynamics results is carried out and a remarkable agreement from the Coulomb limit to the strongly screened limit is revealed. The soft mean spherical approximation is concluded to be particularly well suited for the study of dusty plasma liquids, uniquely combining simplicity and accuracy.

Spectra of ion density and potential fluctuations in weakly ionized plasmas in the presence of dust grains.

The spectral densities of ion density and electrostatic potential fluctuations are derived in the framework of a self-consistent kinetic model of partially ionized dusty plasmas in the low-frequency regime. Neutral gas density can be responsible for significant modifications of the fluctuation level, hence the inclusion of the effect of neutrals is essential for a more realistic comparison with experiments, especially if spectral measurements are intended for dust diagnostic purposes. Comparison with the multicomponent model, attractive due to its simplicity as compared to the self-consistent one, is carried out to establish its limits of validity. Numerical calculations are performed for parameters typical of low-temperature plasma discharges. A criterion is derived for the omission of plasma discreteness in the low-frequency regime.

Note: Simultaneous electrical and optical detection of expanding dense partially ionized vapour clouds.

The scheme and construction of an electro-optical probe able to collect charge and detect optical emission from expanding dense partially ionized vapour clouds are reported. The instrument can be applied to phenomena such as dust impact ionization and solid target laser ablation. First, results of measurements of expanding plasma cloud formed upon ablating W target are presented. Use of the instrument in different experimental facilities, including tokamak, is discussed.

Critical fluctuations and anomalous transport in soft Yukawa-Langevin systems.

Simulation of a Langevin-dynamics model demonstrates emergence of critical fluctuations and anomalous grain transport which have been observed in experiments on "soft" quasi-two-dimensional dusty plasma clusters. Our model does not contain external drive or plasma interactions that serve to drive the system away from thermodynamic equilibrium. The grains are confined by an external potential, interact via static Yukawa forces, and are subject to stochastic heating and dissipation from neutrals. One remarkable feature is emergence of leptokurtic probability distributions of grain displacements xi(tau) on time scales tau < tau(Delta), where tau(Delta) is the time at which the standard deviation sigma(tau) identical with (xi(2)(tau))(1/2) approaches the mean intergrain distance Delta. Others are development of humps in the distributions on multiples of Delta , anomalous Hurst exponents, and transitions from leptokurtic toward Gaussian displacement distributions on time scales tau > tau(Delta). The latter is a signature of intermittency, here interpreted as a transition from bursty transport associated with hopping on intermediate time scales to vortical flows on longer time scales. These intermittency features are quantitatively modeled by a single-particle Itô-Langevin stochastic equation with a nonlinear drift term.

Dust measurements in tokamaks (invited).

Dust production and accumulation present potential safety and operational issues for the ITER. Dust diagnostics can be divided into two groups: diagnostics of dust on surfaces and diagnostics of dust in plasma. Diagnostics from both groups are employed in contemporary tokamaks; new diagnostics suitable for ITER are also being developed and tested. Dust accumulation in ITER is likely to occur in hidden areas, e.g., between tiles and under divertor baffles. A novel electrostatic dust detector for monitoring dust in these regions has been developed and tested at PPPL. In the DIII-D tokamak dust diagnostics include Mie scattering from Nd:YAG lasers, visible imaging, and spectroscopy. Laser scattering is able to resolve particles between 0.16 and 1.6 microm in diameter; using these data the total dust content in the edge plasmas and trends in the dust production rates within this size range have been established. Individual dust particles are observed by visible imaging using fast framing cameras, detecting dust particles of a few microns in diameter and larger. Dust velocities and trajectories can be determined in two-dimension with a single camera or three-dimension using multiple cameras, but determination of particle size is challenging. In order to calibrate diagnostics and benchmark dust dynamics modeling, precharacterized carbon dust has been injected into the lower divertor of DIII-D. Injected dust is seen by cameras, and spectroscopic diagnostics observe an increase in carbon line (CI, CII, C(2) dimer) and thermal continuum emissions from the injected dust. The latter observation can be used in the design of novel dust survey diagnostics.

Observation of the effects of dust particles on plasma fluctuation spectra.

Charged dust particles are theoretically expected to modify the amplitude and spectrum of plasma fluctuations, and this can eventually provide novel diagnostic tools. Direct experimental evidence of the effects of dust particles on the fluctuations of a low collisionality plasma is reported, in agreement with the expectations of kinetic theory.

Superdiffusion and viscoelastic vortex flows in a two-dimensional complex plasma.

Viscoelastic vortical fluid motion in a strongly coupled particle system has been observed experimentally. Optical tracking of particle motion in a complex plasma monolayer reveals high grain mobility and large scale vortex flows coexistent with partial preservation of the global hexagonal lattice structure. The transport of particles is superdiffusive and ascribed to Lévy statistics on short time scales and to memory effects on the longer scales influenced by cooperative motion. At these longer time scales, the transport is governed by vortex flows covering a wide spectrum of temporal and spatial scales.

Onset of turbulence and profile resilience in the Helimak configuration.

An experimental study of the onset of drift wave and flute interchange instabilities in the Helimak configuration is presented. It is shown that the Helimak offers the opportunity to separate the regions where these instabilities are active and to assess their relative role in cross-field anomalous transport and in the self-organization of exponential plasma density profiles with resilient scale length. Some results indicating a period doubling route to turbulence are also presented.

Experimental determination of dust-particle charge in a discharge plasma at elevated pressures.

The charge of dust particles is determined experimentally in a bulk dc discharge plasma in the pressure range 20-100 Pa. The charge is obtained by two independent methods: one based on an analysis of the particle motion in a stable particle flow and another on an analysis of the transition of the flow to an unstable regime. Molecular-dynamics simulations of the particle charging for conditions similar to those of the experiment are also performed. The results of both experimental methods and the simulations demonstrate good agreement. The charge obtained is several times smaller than predicted by the collisionless orbital motion theory, and thus the results serve as an experimental indication that ion-neutral collisions significantly affect particle charging.