Residual dust charges in an afterglow plasma

Lénaïc Couëdel (1) , Maxime Mikikian (1) , Laifa Boufendi (1) , Alexander A. Samarian (2)

1 GREMI - Groupe de recherches sur l'énergétique des milieux ionisés
2 School of Physics A28

An on-ground measurement of dust particle residual charges in the afterglow of a dusty plasma was performed in a rf discharge. An upward thermophoretic force was used to balance the gravitational force. It was found that positively-charged, negatively-charged and neutral dust particles coexisted for more than one minute after the discharge was switched off. The mean residual charge for 200 nm radius particles was measured. The dust particle mean charge is about -5e at pressure of 1.2 mbar and about -3e at pressure of 0.4 mbar.

Mots clés: Dusty plasmas; Complex plasmas; Dust particle; Afterglow; Charge

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

Lénaïc Couëdel, Maxime Mikikian, Laifa Boufendi, Alexander A. Samarian. Residual dust charges in an afterglow plasma. 13th International Congress on Plasma Physics, May 2006, Kiev, Ukraine. 002pdl. ⟨hal-00445216⟩