Complex (Dusty) Plasma Research under Microgravity Conditions: PK-3 Plus Laboratory on the International Space Station

Abstract

Complex (dusty) plasma research under microgravity conditions complements the research in the laboratory. Due to reduction of the main force on microparticles in the lab — gravity — it is possible to form complex plasmas in the bulk region of plasmas in homogeneous large 3D systems and to investigate other phenomena than those accessible on Earth in detail. Therefore, PK-3 Plus was operated as a long-term microgravity facility from 2006 to 2013 on the International Space Station ISS. It was perfectly suited for the formation of large stable liquid and crystalline systems and provided interesting insights into processes like crystallisation and melting, laning and phase separation in binary mixtures, electrorheological effects due to ac electric fields and projectile interaction with a strongly coupled complex plasma cloud.