Lateral motion of a dust particle in magnetized plasma sheath

Abstract

In this paper, lateral mobilization of a dust particle through application of an oblique magnetic field in a plasma sheath with infinitely long lateral dimensions is studied. A weakly collisional two-fluid model is implemented to simulate the plasma. A single submicrometer-sized particle is released at the sheath edge with zero initial velocity and is tracked in Lagrangian frame, taking into account various forces. Various characteristics of the particle lateral motion such as time history of its horizontal position, velocity, and acceleration components are presented and discussed. Through investigation of power spectra of plasma and particle variables, the particle drift in the horizontal plane is explained. While varying parameters such as magnetic field intensity, particle density, and its radius, the particle horizontal velocity components are calculated. The variation of these velocity components is then explained by considering the ion velocity components at the particle location.