Hannover 2020 – scientific programme

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P: Fachverband Plasmaphysik

P 10: Poster Session 2

P 10.34: Poster

Tuesday, March 10, 2020, 16:30–18:30, Empore Lichthof

Thermal gradient induced dust convections in a dc plasma under microgravity conditions — •Andreas Schmitz, Ivo Schulz, Michael Kretschmer, and Markus Thoma — I. Physikalisches Institut, Justus-Liebig-Universität, Gießen, Germany

Experiments with complex plasmas were conducted in an engineering model of the International Space Station’s laboratory setup Plasmakristall 4 during ESA’s 71th parabolic flight campaign in the A310 ZERO-G aircraft in May 2019. In some of these microgravity experiments a DC discharge plasma was generated within the elongated glass tube of PK-4. The investigated complex plasma was introduced to a thermal gradient caused by a heater ring mounted around the plasma chamber. The dust cloud was trapped near the heater where the cloud convected. It was concluded that this dust cloud convection was induced by a gas flow via drag. Analysis of the dust cloud convection showed this gas flow to have been caused by thermal creep, a phenomenon which is common in rarefied gases with a temperature gradient along a boundary.