On the interaction of microparticles with ion flux in gas discharge plasma

Abstract

The charging and interaction of microparticles in the gas discharge near-electrode region, where the role of the external electric field and ion drift is significant, are considered. It is shown that the ion focusing, responsible for, as is generally accepted, the formation of vertical linear dust structures, is strongly suppressed under conditions typical of experiments with dusty plasma (i.e., the gas discharge at pressures of 10–100 Pa). The contribution of ions trapped by an ion microparticle to the dusty particle charge is estimated. It is shown that trapped ions can appreciably reduce the microparticle charge.