Experiments with an rf dusty plasma and an external plasma jet

Abstract

A plasma jet produced in a coaxial plasma gun was aimed at a cloud of dust particles levitated in the sheath of a radio‐frequency (rf) plasma produced between two parallel‐plate electrodes. A high‐speed camera with a side‐view on the dust cloud was used to track the dust particles. Several cases of dust motion could be observed. When the jet was parallel with the horizontal electrodes of the rf plasma the dust particles were either pushed out of the trapping region by the plasma jet or were only perturbed from their equilibrium position, oscillating with a frequency of the order of a few kHz. In the first case the trajectory of the dust particles followed the curvature of the sheath. In the second case, when the jet was fired at a small angle with the horizontal electrodes the dust particles hit the bottom electrode and ricocheted back into the sheath. Finally, another situation was observed when the jet perturbed the rf plasma and its sheath and the whole dust crystal fell to the electrode.