English

Magnetizing a complex plasma without a magnetic field

Plasma Physics 2012-10-16 v1

Abstract

We propose and demonstrate a concept that mimics the magnetization of the heavy dust particles in a complex plasma while leaving the properties of the light species practically unaffected. It makes use of the frictional coupling between a complex plasma and the neutral gas, which allows to transfer angular momentum from a rotating gas column to a well-controlled rotation of the dust cloud. This induces a Coriolis force that acts exactly as the Lorentz force in a magnetic field. Experimental normal mode measurements for a small dust cluster with four particles show excellent agreement with theoretical predictions for a magnetized plasma.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1206.5073,
  title  = {Magnetizing a complex plasma without a magnetic field},
  author = {H. Kählert and J. Carstensen and M. Bonitz and H. Löwen and F. Greiner and A. Piel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1206.5073},
  year   = {2012}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-21T21:23:44.889Z