Coulomb Crystals in Complex Plasmas and their Temperatures(<Special Issue>Crystal Growth in Space part 2)

Abstract

Coulomb crystals are solid-state structures with regularity in complex plasmas. Since the structure is deformed by gravity on the ground, microgravity experiments are one of the most superior ways to understand the complex plasmas. Dislocations are often observed inside the Coulomb crystals and move inside them like actual crystals. Since crystal temperature, which is equivalent to average kinetic energy of particles, should affect the dislocation movement, we obtain the temperature by the methods based on the velocity distribution function and the pair distribution function. Both methods indicate that the temperature is much higher than the room temperature. This is consistent with the past results based on the velocity distribution function.