title: Threshold phenomena in a throbbing complex plasma.
abstract: In complex plasmas, the trapped dust particle cloud is often characterized by a central dust-free region ("void"). The void induces a spatial inhomogeneity of the dust particle distribution and is at the origin of many intricate unstable phenomena. One type of this kind of behavior is the so-called heartbeat instability consisting of successive contractions and expansions of the void. This instability is characterized by a strong nonlinear dynamics which can reveal the occurrence of incomplete sequences corresponding to failed contractions. Experimental results based on high-speed imaging are presented for the first time and underline this threshold effect in both the dust cloud motion and the evolution of the plasma light emission.
authors.affiliation: GREMI, Groupe de Recherches sur l'Energétique des Milieux Ionisés, UMR6606, CNRS/Université d'Orléans, 14 rue d'Issoudun, BP6744, 45067 Orléans Cedex 2, France. maxime.mikikian@univ-orleans.fr
authors.forename: Maxime
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mikikian
authors.forename: Lénaïc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Couëdel
authors.forename: Marjorie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cavarroc
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tessier
authors.forename: Laïfa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boufendi