Title :
PK-4: Complex Plasmas in Space—The Next Generation
Author :
Thoma, Markus H. ; Fink, Martin A. ; Höfner, Herwig ; Kretschmer, Michael ; Khrapak, Sergey A. ; Ratynskaia, Svetlana V. ; Yaroshenko, Victoria V. ; Morfill, Gregor E. ; Petrov, Oleg F. ; Usachev, Alexander D. ; Zobnin, Andrey V. ; Fortov, Vladimir E.
Author_Institution :
Max-Planck-Inst. fur Extraterrestrische Phys., Garching
fDate :
4/1/2007 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
PK-4 is an experiment designed to investigate complex plasmas in a combined dc/RF discharge under microgravity conditions on board of the International Space Station. The dc discharge is produced in a glass tube with a length of 35 cm and a diameter of 3 cm. In addition, an RF discharge can be applied by external RF coils. The setup is especially suited for studying the liquid phase of the complex plasmas, e.g., flow phenomena such as turbulence or nozzles, and forces acting on the microparticles. Experiments in the laboratory and in parabolic flights have been used to determine the charge of the microparticles as well as the ion drag force acting on them
Keywords :
drag; dusty plasmas; high-frequency discharges; nozzles; plasma flow; plasma turbulence; DC discharge; International Space Station; RF discharge; complex plasmas; dusty plasma; external RF coils; glass tube; ion drag force; microgravity; microparticles; nozzles; parabolic flights; plasma flow; turbulence; Coils; Glass; International Space Station; Laboratories; Physics; Plasma accelerators; Plasma density; Plasma measurements; Plasma simulation; Radio frequency; Complex plasmas; dc/rf discharge; fluid simulation;
Journal_Title :
Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TPS.2007.893750
