Dust particles in a thermophoretic trap in a plasma

Abstract

The feasibility of confining dust particles in a plasma by thermophoretic forces was demonstrated. An extended dust structure in a positive glow discharge column was experimentally obtained at liquid nitrogen temperature. The dust structure was confined in an electrostatic-thermal trap, in which vertical stability was provided by the summed action of longitudinal electrostatic field and thermophoretic forces. Traps of this kind can be analyzed in terms of the general principles developed for confining particles in traps with the use of electric and magnetic multipole fields. We were able to change the shape and volume of the structure and even separate it into parts by varying temperature fields.