Electromechanical Effect in Complex Plasmas
physics.plasm-ph
/ Authors
S. Zhdanov, M. Schwabe, R Heidemann, H. M. Thomas, M. Rubin-Zuzic, H. Rothermel, T. Hagl, A. V. Ivlev, G. E. Morfill, V. I. Molotkov
and 4 more authors
/ Abstract
Experimental results on an auto-oscillatory pattern observed in a complex plasma are presented. The experiments are performed with an argon plasma which is produced under microgravity conditions using a capacitively-coupled rf discharge at low power and gas pressure. The observed intense wave activity in the complex plasma cloud correlates well with the low-frequency modulation of the discharge voltage and current and is initiated by periodic void contractions. Particle migrations forced by the waves are of long-range repulsive and attractive character.