Low frequency instabilities during dust particle growth in a radio-frequency plasma

Maxime Mikikian (1) , Marjorie Cavarroc (1) , Lénaïc Couëdel (1) , Laifa Boufendi (1)

1 GREMI - Groupe de recherches sur l'énergétique des milieux ionisés

In this paper, instabilities appearing in a dusty plasma are experimentally investigated. These low frequency self-excited instabilities appear during dust particle growth and are characterized by a frequency spectrum evolving during this process. The onset, the time evolution and the main characteristics of these instabilities are investigated thanks to electrical and optical measurements. Both signals show a clear evolution scheme with a well-defined succession of phases. From the beginning to the end of this scheme, regular oscillations and/or chaotic regimes are observed. Finally, instabilities stop when the dust particle size reaches a few hundreds of nanometers and a stable three-dimensional dust cloud is obtained. A dust-free region called void is then usually observed in the plasma center.

Mots clés: Dusty plasma; Complex plasma; Dust particle; Growth; Instabilities; Instability; radiofrequency; Chaotic; Void

Domaines: Plasmas; Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]

Maxime Mikikian, Marjorie Cavarroc, Lénaïc Couëdel, Laifa Boufendi. Low frequency instabilities during dust particle growth in a radio-frequency plasma. Physics of Plasmas, 2006, 13, pp.092103. ⟨10.1063/1.2337793⟩. ⟨hal-00097761⟩