Honors Thesis Archive
| Author | Erica Snipes |
|---|---|
| Title | Measurements of finite dust temperature effects in the dispersion relation of the dust acoustic wave |
| Department | Physics |
| Advisors | Dr. Jeremiah Williams, Dr. William Dollhopf, and Dr. Ray Dudek |
| Year | 2009 |
| Honors | University Honors |
| Full Text | View Thesis (930 KB) |
| Abstract | A dusty plasma is a four-component system composed of ions, electrons, neutral particles and charged microparticles. The presence of these charged microparticles gives rise to new plasma wave modes, including the dust acoustic wave. Recent measurements of the dispersion relationship for the dust acoustic wave in a glow discharge plasma have shown that finite temperature effects are observed in the dispersion relationship over a range of neutral gas pressure. In this range of pressures, it is observed that the dust has a temperature that is significantly larger than the other plasma components, (Td > 30 eV). Outside of this range of neutral gas pressure the dust is observed to be at room temperature, i.e. Td ~ 1/40 eV. We present the results of ongoing work examining finite temperature effects in the dispersion relation as a function of neutral gas pressure. |
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