Berlin 2014 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

P: Fachverband Plasmaphysik

P 17: Poster Session - Helmholtz Graduate School for Plasma Physics

P 17.15: Poster

Wednesday, March 19, 2014, 16:30–18:30, SPA Foyer

Experimental investigations on the dust density distribution inspatially extended dust clouds — •Carsten Killer, Michael Himpel, and André Melzer — Institut für Physik, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, 17489 Greifswald

Large dust clouds confined in the discharge volume of low temperature rf plasmas often feature interesting phenomena such as a central void and the propagation of self-excited dust density waves. Most experimental diagnostics in the field of dusty plasmas focus either on 2-dimensional slices of the dust system (using laser sheets) or on small 3-dimensional observation volumes. Due to the limitations of these methods it is therefore difficult to measure global properties of the dust cloud.
In this contribution, a novel approach towards the reconstruction of the dust density distribution is presented. A two-dimensional projection of the dust cloud can be obtained by measuring the light extinction of a homogenously illuminated cloud, effectively observing the dust clouds shadow. Assuming cylindrical symmetry, the radial dust density profile can be derived via Abel inversion. This method is especially suited to investigate the three-dimensional character of the void and dust density waves. It is furthermore possible to compare the radial dust density distribution to the plasma glow structure, which can also be reconstructed by Abel inversion. Hence, the influence of the dust presence and dust dynamics on the plasma glow can be investigated.