Complex plasma--the plasma state of soft matter

Complex plasma is the plasma state of soft matter which consists of weakly ionized gas (plasma) and highly charged microparticles. The microparticles are large enough to be visualized individually and their dynamics can be observed with great accuracy using simple video microscopic technique. These features allow to perform experiments with high temporal and spatial resolutions (in terms of the appropriate plasma frequency and particle separation). Furthermore, since the background gas is dilute, the particle dynamics in strongly coupled complex plasmas is virtually undamped, which provides a direct analogy to regular liquids and solids in terms of the atomistic dynamics. All these unique features allow complex plasma to be used as an ideal model system (complementary to other model systems in soft matter physics such as colloids, granular medium, etc.) to investigate various phenomena (e.g, phase transitions, phase separation, self-organizations, linear and nonlinear waves, transport, etc.) at the most fundamental kinetic level.