Study of Cylindrical Dusty Plasmas in PK-4J; Experiments

Abstract

Dusty plasmas have been studied under microgravity with utilities boarding on the International Space Station in a joint Russian/German research project. Dynamics of dust particles in cylindrical plasmas is investigated in the next term of the project with the apparatus of PK-4. A research team in Japan studied the cylindrical dusty plasmas to contribute to the project with the PK-4J similar to the original one and developed for microgravity experiments of parabolic flights in Japan. The dust particles distributed in the off-centered position close to the bottom in balancing of gravity. They changed the distribution and moved to around the center axis in a cylindrical discharge under microgravity. Several particles arranged in a line parallel to the axis, and the lines piled up to a bundle in the discharge.