Frontiers In Dusty 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 main focus of the workshop was on tokamak physics and magnetic confinement fusion, plasma turbulence, dusty plasmas, intense laser-plasma interactions, plasma based particle acceleration, and quantum plasmas including quantum electrodynamic effects. The aim of the workshop was also to provide training for young scientists from all over the world, mainly from third world countries, and to give them the opportunity to interact with the senior scientists in an informal manner. A selected number of papers by the invited speakers appears in this book.

Colloidal plasmas - a still emerging field of plasma physics - enable the study of basic plasma properties on a microscopic kinetic level and allow the visualization of collective plasma phenomena, like oscillations and waves. Moreover, a vast number of novel phenomena are found in these systems, ranging from Coulomb crystallization to new types of forces and waves. Last but not least, they shed a new light on various traditional aspects of plasma physics such as shielding or the mechanism of acoustic waves in plasmas, thus providing new insight into the basic foundations of plasma physics.These course-based and self-contained lecture notes provide a general introduction to this active and growing field to students and nonspecialists, requiring only basic prior knowledge in plasma physics. ​

Introduction to Dusty Plasma Physics contains a detailed description of the occurrence of dusty plasmas in our Solar System, the Earth's mesosphere, and in laboratory discharges. The book illustrates numerous mechanisms for charging dust particles and provides studies of the grain dynamics under the influence of forces that are common in dusty plasma environments.

In this volume a thorough review is given of waves in dusty plasmas, a fascinating new domain combining plasmas and charged dust, two omnipresent ingredients of the Universe. Spokes and braids observed in the rings of Saturn cannot be explained by gravitation alone, but need the presence of charged dust. Other examples abound, as in zodiacal light, noctilucent clouds, comets and molecular clouds. After discussing charging mechanisms, supported by exciting new experiments, and space observations, the book describes extensions of known plasma modes covering the low frequencies typical for charged dust. Mixing detailed theoretical steps with summaries of expert contributions, a systematic multi-species treatment puts the literature in perspective, suitable also for newcomers. Typical complications like fluctuating dust charges, self-gravitational effects, and size distributions are dealt with, before ending with an outlook to future work and open questions. In this way, experts as well as interested newcomers will find a reliable guide, not just a compendium.

Dust is ubiquitous in the universe and responsible for stellar and planetary formation. Virtually all previous studies have considered the dust particulates to be a charge neutral component. Satellite missions such as Voyager revealed the extent to which charged dust plays a role in astrophysics. In most areas dust exists in the presence of a dilute plasma. In such a plasma environment the dust becomes charged to a variety of processes (eg photo-ionisation, collisions with electrons and ions, thermionic emission etc). Closer to home in the Earth's mesosphere, rocket measurements and radar observations conclusively demonstrate the importance of charged dust in forming complex structures responsible for Polar Mesospheric Summer Echoes. This book is the outcome of a periodic collaboration between a small group of scientists meeting twice a year at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland over a period of three years. The book begins with a description of the fundamental physical processes which characterise dusty plasmas. Starting with charging and shielding of isolated dust particles in a plasma environment, the review progresses to non-linear dust dynamics of spherical and irregular dust. In an ensemble of a dust plasma system collective processes begin to manifest themselves in the form of new wave modes and instabilities which play an important role in the collective behaviour displayed in space and astrophysical environment. Finally more exotic topics, such as the Ising model for irregular dust grain alignment, classical Casimir forces and chargeons are explored.

The main focus of the workshop was on tokamak physics and magnetic confinement fusion, plasma turbulence, dusty plasmas, intense laser-plasma interactions, plasma based particle acceleration, and quantum plasmas including quantum electrodynamic effects. The aim of the workshop was also to provide training for young scientists from all over the world, mainly from third world countries, and to give them the opportunity to interact with the senior scientists in an informal manner. A selected number of papers by the invited speakers appears in this book.

This book provides the reader with an introduction to the physics of complex plasmas, a discussion of the specific scientific and technical challenges they present and an overview of their potential technological applications. Complex plasmas differ from conventional high-temperature plasmas in several ways: they may contain additional species, including nano meter- to micrometer-sized particles, negative ions, molecules and radicals and they may exhibit strong correlations or quantum effects. This book introduces the classical and quantum mechanical approaches used to describe and simulate complex plasmas. It also covers some key experimental techniques used in the analysis of these plasmas, including calorimetric probe methods, IR absorption techniques and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The final part of the book reviews the emerging applications of microcavity and microchannel plasmas, the synthesis and assembly of nanomaterials through plasma electrochemistry, the large-scale generation of ozone using microplasmas and novel applications of atmospheric-pressure non-thermal plasmas in dentistry. Going beyond the scope of traditional plasma texts, the presentation is very well suited for senior undergraduate, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers specializing in plasma physics.