The magnetized sheath of a dusty plasma with nanosize dust grains

Abstract

The magnetized sheath of a dusty plasma is investigated via numerical simulations of stationary multifluid equations by taking into account the electric, magnetic, gravitational, ion drag, neutral drag, and thermophoretic forces. Dependence of the sheath properties on the characteristics of the magnetic field and plasma parameters is explored. The sheath dynamics is mainly governed by the electric and ion drag forces and the effect of gravitation is negligible. The sheath demonstrates a nonmonotonic behavior against variations of the magnetic intensity and its angle of incidence. The sheath thickness and the maximum of dust density distribution decrease with increasing the ion to electron density ratio at the sheath edge, but increase with growing electron temperature and the positive temperature gradient of the neutrals. The effects of ion drag are similar to those of the gravitational force as both of them accelerate the dust to the wall. By a suitable configuration of the temperature gradient in the neutral gas, thermophoretic force can be utilized to deposit the building units of nanostructures on a substrate or remove any unwanted contaminant from its neighborhood.