Propagation of electromagnetic waves in a glow-discharge dusty plasma

Abstract

In this paper, the propagation characteristics of electromagnetic wave in a glow discharge plasma with dust particles are experimentally studied. A special discharge structure has successfully produced argon AC glow discharge plasma. Measurements of the plasma parameters using Langmuir probes, in the absence of the dust particles, give plasma densities n e ∼5×1016 m−3 and electron temperatures ranging from Te=2 to 4 eV. Dusty plasmas are made by suspending 30 nm radius aluminum oxide (Al2O3) particles in the argon plasma. Dust in the device have densities n d ∼1010–1011 m−3. The propagation characteristics of electromagnetic wave are determined by vector network analyzer with antennas in 4–6 GHz. An apparent attenuation by the dust is observed, and the measured attenuation data are approximately in accordance with the curve of theory calculation. The results show that the charged dust particles play a significant role of the microwave attenuation. The effects of gas pressure and input power is investigated in the dusty plasma. The results show that the transmission attenuation increase with the increasing gas pressure and input power.