Advances In Dusty Plasmas Proceedings Of The International Conference On The Physics Of Dusty Plasmas

Dust-plasma interactions are of interest not only to space scientists and astrophysicists but lately also to technologists working in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. This book shows the wide scope of this new field, which is presently in a rapid state of development. It includes discussions not only of the physics and dynamics of charged dust in various plasma environments, but also of collective processes in dusty plasmas (new wave modes and instabilities), and the fascinating new development of the crystallization of dusty plasmas in the laboratory.

A dusty plasma (or complex plasma) is a plasma (ionized gas) in which relatively massive particulates (dust grains) are embedded. Dusty plasmas occur widely in nature and show great industrial potential. This volume reports on the latest developments in dusty plasma physics, from astrophysical to space to laboratory environments. Theoretical and computer simulation advances cover topics such as linear instabilities, nonlinear wave phenomena, and plasma sheaths. Experimental results deal with exciting areas such as particle coagulation, plasma crystals, plasma voids, and microgravity experiments. Four comprehensive overview papers are presented on dusty plasmas in: astrophysics and cosmology, the solar system, and the ionosphere and its environment, as well as on the structure and dynamics of strongly non-ideal plasmas. In addition, eight topical reviews are included, as well as about 90 short research papers.

Dusty plasmas are relevant to the understanding of astrophysical, space and laboratory phenomena. During the ICPDP5, the progress in observations, modeling and simulations of dusty plasma physics has been examined. This conference addressed a very broad range oftopics which are closely related through the underlying physics, including contributions from Fusion and Astrophysics.

This conference proceedings would be of interest to physicists working in the fields of complex (dusty) plasmas, plasma applications, space plasmas, fusion plasmas, and soft matter. Dusty (complex) plasmas, i.e., plasmas containing micron sized particles such as dust grains, are ubiquitous they occur in various natural environments, e.g., in interstellar media, protoplanetary disks, magneto- and ionospheres of planets, cometary tails etc. On the other hand, they are employed as systems to study numerous fundamental processes occurring in plasmas as well as in condensed matter, such as waves and instabilities, liquid structure and dynamics, phase transitions, and so on. The term complex plasmas is broadly used in the literature to identify dusty plasmas specially designed for such laboratory investigations. Furthermore, dusty plasma research is important for various applications, like the formation of designer nano-particles, production of polymorphous silicon solar cells, cleaning of soot particles from waste lines, etc.

The 4th ICPDP conference was dedicated to the physics of dusty or complex plasmas. It focused on the phenomena related to the interaction of these particles with plasmas, such as transport processes, Coulomb crystal and liquid formation, void formation, self excited instabilities, wave propagation, nonlinear phenomena and also the nucleation and growth of dust particles in these plasmas.

The study of dusty plasmas is now in a vigorous state of development. Dust and plasma coexist in a vast variety of cosmic environments and their research received a major boost in the early 80's with the Voyager spacecraft observations of peculiar features in the Saturnian ring system (e.g. the radial spokes) which could not be explained purely in gravitational terms. In addition, dust streams were measured by the Galileo spacecraft in the Jovian magnetosphere and charged dust in the earth's mesosphere was detected by a direct rocket experiment. Since then the area has greatly expanded with dedicated laboratory experiments verifying aspects of basic physics of charged dust grains in plasmas. These proceedings contain invited and poster papers which were presented by scientists active in the field from more than twenty countries. The material contains new aspects of collective interactions in dusty plasmas. For example, discoveries of dust-acoustic Mach cones, dust ion-acoustic shocks, great dust voids, vortex formation, dust crystallization under microgravity, coexistence of positive negative dust grains in the mesosphere and dust in tokamaks. The more theoretical and simulation studies focus on dynamical and structural properties and kinetic theories of strongly coupled dusty plasmas, as well as on self-organizations and structures, in addition to identifying forces (viz. wakefields, electrostatic and dipolar interactions etc.), which are responsible for charged dust grain attraction and phase transitions. The resulting book is a valuable, state-of-the-art review of the field of dusty plasma physics and will be welcomed by both researchers and graduate students who want to keep up to date in this rapidly growing field.

The proceedings of the Seventh Workshop on the Physics of Dusty of Plasmas contains a collection of papers that provide a "snapshot" of this rapidly expanding field and is perhaps the fastest growing area of plasma physics studies with a surprisingly wide range of applications. At this workshop, over fifty participants presented theoretical and experimental investigations of dust charging, waves and instabilities, laboratory and industrial plasmas, strongly coupled systems, astrophysical, space, and atmospheric plasmas.