Kinetic measurements of shock wave propagation in a three-dimensional complex (dusty) plasma.
"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.
Samsonov
D
D
Centre for Interdisciplinary Plasma Science, Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, D-85740 Garching, Germany.
Morfill
G
G
Thomas
H
H
Hagl
T
T
Rothermel
H
H
Fortov
V
V
Lipaev
A
A
Molotkov
V
V
Nefedov
A
A
Petrov
O
O
Ivanov
A
A
Krikalev
S
S