Freezing and melting of 3D complex plasma structures under microgravity conditions driven by neutral gas pressure manipulation
Plasma Physics
2011-11-30 v1 Other Condensed Matter
Soft Condensed Matter
Abstract
Freezing and melting of large three-dimensional complex plasmas under microgravity conditions is investigated. The neutral gas pressure is used as a control parameter to trigger the phase changes: Complex plasma freezes (melts) by decreasing (increasing) the pressure. Evolution of complex plasma structural properties upon pressure variation is studied. Theoretical estimates allow us to identify main factors responsible for the observed behavior.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1104.2161,
title = {Freezing and melting of 3D complex plasma structures under microgravity conditions driven by neutral gas pressure manipulation},
author = {S. A. Khrapak and B. A. Klumov and P. Huber and V. I. Molotkov and A. M. Lipaev and V. N. Naumkin and H. M. Thomas and A. V. Ivlev and G. E. Morfill and O. F. Petrov and V. E. Fortov and Yu. Malentschenko and S. Volkov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1104.2161},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press); 4 pages, 4 figures