title: Kinetic measurements of shock wave propagation in a three-dimensional complex (dusty) plasma.
abstract: "Complex plasmas" consist of electrons, ions, and charged microparticles. The latter are individually observable, allowing kinetic measurements in plasmas. Using a sudden gas pulse, a traveling perturbation was initiated in such a complex plasma and its propagation, acceleration, and steepening-possibly into a shock was followed. The experiment was performed in the PKE-Nefedov laboratory under microgravity conditions on the international space station, i.e., in a complex plasma cloud with very little stored (potential or free) energy and thus free of, e.g., parametric instabilities. The perturbation front remained remarkably smooth, with a microroughness of the order of the interparticle distance. The observations are presented and interpreted.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Interdisciplinary Plasma Science, Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, D-85740 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Samsonov
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Morfill
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hagl
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rothermel
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Fortov
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lipaev
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Molotkov
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nefedov
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Petrov
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ivanov
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krikalev