Formation of pseudo-microgravity environment for dusty plasmas in supercritical carbon dioxide

摘要

We realized a pseudo-microgravity environment for dusty plasmas in a ground-based experiment, using the field-emitting regime of a surface dielectric barrier discharge in high-pressure carbon dioxide (CO2) including supercritical conditions. Using the high and adjustable density of high-pressure CO2, the balance between gravitational force and buoyancy was controlled. When changing the density of CO2 in the range of 0.234 g/cm(3) to 0.668 g/cm(3), i.e., smaller and larger than that of the particles (0.5 g/cm(3)), a particle arrangement in the direction of the gravitational force was formed only when the density of CO2 was in the range of 60.17 g/cm(3) with respect to that of the particles. This experimentally demonstrates that the pseudo-microgravity that emerges due to the buoyancy from the high-pressure CO2 contributes to the particle arrangement in the gravitational direction, and hence, it compensates the gravity-induced anisotropy. Published by AIP Publishing.