Charging and Mobilization of Dust Particles on a Surface in Plasma.

We present first experimental results showing that single dust particles on a dielectric surface are mobilized and lofted due to exposure to an electron beam or ultraviolet radiation. It is shown that secondary electrons and/or photoelectrons emitted from a substrate surface are recollected on the surfaces within microcavities between a dust particle and the substrate surface, resulting in large negative charges and subsequently causing mobilization of the dust particle due to Coulomb repulsion. Dust mobility tested against the electron beam energy is shown to follow the secondary electron yield curve of the substrate surface in both the experimental and modeling results.

Experimental validation of interpolation method for pair correlations in model crystals.

Accurate analysis of pair correlations in condensed matter allows us to establish relations between structures and thermodynamic properties and, thus, is of high importance for a wide range of systems, from solids to colloidal suspensions. Recently, the interpolation method (IM) that describes satisfactorily the shape of pair correlation peaks at short and at long distances has been elaborated theoretically and using molecular dynamics simulations, but it has not been verified experimentally as yet. Here, we test the IM by particle-resolved studies with colloidal suspensions and with complex (dusty) plasmas and demonstrate that, owing to its high accuracy, the IM can be used to experimentally measure parameters that describe interaction between particles in these systems.

Nonlinear wave propagation in a strongly coupled collisional dusty plasma.

The propagation of a nonlinear low-frequency mode in a strongly coupled dusty plasma is investigated using a generalized hydrodynamical model. For the well-known longitudinal dust acoustic mode a standard perturbative approach leads to a Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) soliton. The strong viscoelastic effect, however, introduced a nonlinear forcing and a linear damping in the KdV equation.

Communication: Universality of the melting curves for a wide range of interaction potentials.

We demonstrate that the melting curves of various model systems of interacting particles collapse to (or are located very close to) a universal master curve on a plane of appropriately chosen scaled variables. The physics behind this universality is discussed. An equation for the emerging "universal melting curve" is proposed.

Freezing of Lennard-Jones-type fluids.

We put forward an approximate method to locate the fluid-solid (freezing) phase transition in systems of classical particles interacting via a wide range of Lennard-Jones-type potentials. This method is based on the constancy of the properly normalized second derivative of the interaction potential (freezing indicator) along the freezing curve. As demonstrated recently it yields remarkably good agreement with previous numerical simulation studies of the conventional 12-6 Lennard-Jones (LJ) fluid [S.

The MaPLE device of Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics: construction and its plasma aspects.

The Magnetized Plasma Linear Experimental (MaPLE) device is a low cost laboratory plasma device at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics fabricated in-house with the primary aim of studying basic plasma physics phenomena such as plasma instabilities, wave propagation, and their nonlinear behavior in magnetized plasma regime in a controlled manner. The machine is specially designed to be a versatile laboratory device that can provide a number of magnetic and electric scenario to facilitate such studies. A total of 36 number of 20-turn magnet coils, designed such as to allow easy handling, is capable of producing a uniform, dc magnetic field of about 0.