Effects of temperature on the structures and dynamics of a binary complex plasma

Abstract

In the paper, the effects of temperature on the structure and dynamics of a binary complex plasma system are investigated through two-dimensional (2D) Langevin dynamics simulation. Two kinds of dust particles with different masses are considered in the binary complex system. The particle distribution, Voronoi structure diagram and pair correlation function are used to characterize the system structure. The evolution process of kinetic energy, speed and trajectories of binary particles as time under different system temperatures are used to study the dynamical characteristics of the system. It shows that binary particles with different masses have the trend to separately distribute themselves with a boundary, which is very clear at the lower temperature. There is an optimum temperature, which can produce the separation distribution with fewest small particles mixing in the region of large particles. The dynamical investigation shows that small particles firstly reach the system center and then they are pushed out by large particles. The kinetic energy has a radial distribution, showing a drastic change around the boundary of the binary particles. The investigations indicate that the structures and dynamics of the binary complex plasma can be affected by system temperature.