Loading…
Experiments on wake structures behind a microparticle in a magnetized plasma flow
The wake behind a spherical microparticle in a magnetized ion flow is studied experimentally by analyzing the arrangement of a pair of particles. It is shown that there are two stable particle arrangements at intermediate magnetic inductions, whereas only oblique (horizontal) particle configurations...
Saved in:
Published in: | Physics of plasmas 2018-07, Vol.25 (7) |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | eng ; nor |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
Summary: | The wake behind a spherical microparticle in a magnetized ion flow is studied
experimentally by analyzing the arrangement of a pair of particles. It is shown that there
are two stable particle arrangements at intermediate magnetic inductions, whereas only
oblique (horizontal) particle configurations are found at the highest magnetic field.
Self-consistent collisional molecular dynamics simulations of the particle system show
that the underlying mechanism of these arrangements is the weakening of attractive wake
forces by the increasing magnetic field. Plasma instabilities provide a trigger for the
onset of the transition between the two different arrangements. Furthermore, the course of
the transition is qualitatively explained by the charge variation of the downstream
particle in the wake of the upstream particle. In addition, a thorough analysis of the
sheath by means of particle-in-cell simulations in combination with particle resonance
measurements yields consistent values of the particle mass and charge, as well as the
levitating electric field and ion flow velocity. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 1070-664X 1089-7674 |
DOI: | 10.1063/1.5040838 |