English

Active Janus particles in a complex plasma

Plasma Physics 2020-08-19 v2

Abstract

Active Janus particles suspended in a plasma were studied experimentally. The Janus particles were micron-size plastic microspheres, one half of which was coated with a thin layer of platinum. They were suspended in the plasma sheath of a radio-frequency discharge in argon at low pressure. The Janus particles moved in characteristic looped trajectories suggesting a combination of spinning and circling motion; their interactions led to the emergence of rich dynamics characterized by non-Maxwellian velocity distribution. The particle propulsion mechanism is discussed, the main force driving the particle motion is identified as photophoretic force.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2006.14500,
  title  = {Active Janus particles in a complex plasma},
  author = {V. Nosenko and F. Luoni and A. Kaouk and M. Rubin-Zuzic and H. Thomas},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2006.14500},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

6 pages, 6 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-23T16:37:42.933Z