Dusty plasma crystals have traditionally been observed and studied in radio frequency 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 dusty plasma experimental (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 characteristic parameter estimations which includes the radial pair correlation function, Voronoi diagram, Delaunay Triangulation, the structural order parameter, the dust temperature, and the Coulomb coupling parameter. The special features of the DPEx device which permit such a crystal formation are delineated, and some principal physical features of the crystal are discussed.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
December 2018
Research Article|
December 19 2018
Experimental observation of a dusty plasma crystal in the cathode sheath of a DC glow discharge plasma
M. G. Hariprasad;
M. G. Hariprasad
a)
Institute for Plasma Research
, HBNI, Bhat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382428, India
Search for other works by this author on:
P. Bandyopadhyay
;
P. Bandyopadhyay
Institute for Plasma Research
, HBNI, Bhat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382428, India
Search for other works by this author on:
Garima Arora;
Garima Arora
Institute for Plasma Research
, HBNI, Bhat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382428, India
Search for other works by this author on:
A. Sen
A. Sen
Institute for Plasma Research
, HBNI, Bhat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382428, India
Search for other works by this author on:
a)
Electronic mail: hari.prasad@ipr.res.in
Phys. Plasmas 25, 123704 (2018)
Article history
Received:
November 02 2018
Accepted:
December 03 2018
Citation
M. G. Hariprasad, P. Bandyopadhyay, Garima Arora, A. Sen; Experimental observation of a dusty plasma crystal in the cathode sheath of a DC glow discharge plasma. Phys. Plasmas 1 December 2018; 25 (12): 123704. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5079682
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Pay-Per-View Access
$40.00
Citing articles via
ICF target optimization using generative AI
M. Ben Tayeb, V. Tikhonchuk, et al.
The long road to ignition: An eyewitness account
Mordecai D. Rosen
Progress toward fusion energy breakeven and gain as measured against the Lawson criterion
Samuel E. Wurzel, Scott C. Hsu
Related Content
Micro-dynamics of neutral flow induced dusty plasma flow
Phys. Plasmas (February 2019)
Reflection of a dust acoustic solitary wave in a dusty plasma
Phys. Plasmas (October 2021)
Excitation of nonlinear wave patterns in flowing complex plasmas
AIP Conference Proceedings (January 2018)
Dusty Plasma Experimental (DPEx) device for complex plasma experiments with flow
Rev. Sci. Instrum. (November 2015)
Confinement controlled dynamical structural rearrangement in a quasi-2D dusty plasma crystal
Phys. Plasmas (April 2023)