Tunable rheological behaviour of magnetized complex plasma

Abstract

The shear viscosity (η) of a 3D liquid dusty plasma has been estimated as a function of magnetic field (B) and normalized ion flow velocity (M) from the simulation data using Green–Kubo formalism with the help of Langevin dynamics simulation. It has been shown that in the strongly correlated liquid state, complex plasma may exhibit sharp changes in viscosity with magnetic field and ion drift velocity. In presence of ion drift, an oscillatory and attractive wake potential develops among charged dust particles immersed in a plasma. The amplitude of this wake potential can be modulated by applying an external magnetic field. In this work, we explore how an external magnetic field influences the rheological properties of complex plasma via anisotropic wake potential. It is observed that the rheological property of such plasma depends on the dominant interaction operating among the particles and can be controlled by applying an external magnetic field. A novel regime of magnetic field is observed in which strongly correlated complex plasma liquid exhibits a sharp response to an external magnetic field. Due to this unique property, complex plasma may be used as a platform to study magneto-rheological characteristics of soft matter and there is a possibility of using dusty plasma as a magneto-rheological material in near future.