Experimental and computational characterization of a modified GEC cell for dusty plasma experiments

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Authors

Land, Victor
Shen, Erica
Smith, Bernard (Bernie).
Matthews, Lorin Swint.
Hyde, Truell Wayne.

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New Journal of Physics

Abstract

A self-consistent fluid model developed for simulations of microgravity dusty plasma experiments has for the first time been used to model asymmetric dusty plasma experiments in a modified Gaseous Electronics Conference (GEC) reference cell with gravity. The numerical results are directly compared with experimental data and the experimentally determined dependence of global discharge parameters on the applied driving potential and neutral gas pressure is found to be well matched by the model. The local profiles important for dust particle transport are studied and compared with experimentally determined profiles. The radial forces in the midplane are presented for the different discharge settings. The differences between the results obtained in the modified GEC cell and the results first reported for the original GEC reference cell are pointed out.

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New Journal of Physics 11 (2009) 063024