New physical concept of the formation of dust crystals

Abstract

A clear physical model is proposed for phase transitions in a dusty plasma. According to this model, the formation of plasma dust crystals is associated with the nonlinear effect of the collective attraction of dust particles. The nonlinear collective attraction between negatively charged dust particles corresponds to large charges of dust particles used in the available experiments. This concept provides a new physical model of crystallization that is attributable to the capture of dust particles in an attractive potential well rather than to the strong interaction between them. Calculation using this model yields the depth of the attractive potential well and the critical coupling constant in good agreement with the available experimental data.