Published January 2012 | Version v1
Journal article

Laser heating of finite two-dimensional dust clusters: A. Experiments

  • 1. Institut fuer Experimentelle und Angewandte Physik, Christian-Albrechts-Universitaet zu Kiel, 24098 Kiel (Germany)
  • 2. Institut fuer Physik, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universitaet Greifswald, 17487 Greifswald (Germany)
  • 3. Institut fuer Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Christian-Albrechts-Universitaet zu Kiel, 24098 Kiel (Germany)

Description

Laser manipulation allows to control the kinetic particle temperature in dusty plasmas. Different methods of laser heating for plasma crystals are benchmarked experimentally. The methods are analyzed with respect to homogeneity and isotropy in a spatial, temporal, and statistical sense. It is shown that it is possible to achieve particle dynamics very close to thermal equilibrium and that laser heating methods allow for a detailed study of phase transitions in finite size systems.

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physics of Plasmas
Journal Volume
19
Journal Issue
1
Journal Page Range
p. 013705-013705.10
ISSN
1070-664X
CODEN
PHPAEN

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2012 American Institute of Physics