Power law behavior for the zigzag transition in a Yukawa cluster
Abstract
We provide direct experimental evidence that the one-dimensional (1D) to two-dimensional (2D) zigzag transition in a Yukawa cluster exhibits power law behavior. Configurations of a six-particle dusty (complex) plasma confined in a biharmonic potential well are characterized as the well anisotropy is reduced. When the anisotropy is large the particles are in a 1D straight line configuration. As the anisotropy is decreased the cluster undergoes a zigzag transition to a 2D configuration. The measured dependence of cluster width on anisotropy is well described by a power law. A second transition from the zigzag to an elliptical configuration is also observed. The results are in very good agreement with a model for particles interacting through a Yukawa potential.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1001.0753,
title = {Power law behavior for the zigzag transition in a Yukawa cluster},
author = {T. E. Sheridan and Andrew L. Magyar},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1001.0753},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
11 pages, 4 figures, 19 references, submitted to Physical Review E