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复杂等离子体是由电离气体与介观颗粒组成的非平衡复杂系统. 在微重力条件下, 颗粒克服重力沉降作用, 在放电空间形成三维复杂等离子体. 在国际空间站微重力实验载荷PK-4直流放电中, 先后注入两种直径分别为6.8 μm与3.4 μm的球形树脂颗粒, 在电场力、离子拖拽力的作用下, 大小颗粒通常无法在同一区域混合共存, 发生相分离. 在颗粒注入过程中, 小颗粒从大颗粒云中通过, 在不同条件下产生不同的非平衡自组织结构. 当大颗粒云密度较低时, 小颗粒在汤川排斥作用下, 在放电管中心形成穿越通道; 当大颗粒云密度中等时, 大小颗粒在穿越过程中各自形成行结构; 当大颗粒云密度较大时, 由双流不稳定性产生自激发尘埃声波, 此时, 小颗粒在穿越过程中与大颗粒相互作用, 与小颗粒进入前的尘埃声波参数相比, 波峰的颗粒密度显著上升, 然而波长与频率等宏观物理参数并没有发生明显的变化. 本研究系统总结了微重力条件下双分散复杂等离子体颗粒注入中的多种自组织过程与机理.Complex plasmas are composed of ionized gases and mesoscopic particles, representing a typical non-equilibrium complex system. The particles are negatively charged due to the higher thermal velocity of the electrons and interact with each other via Yukawa interactions. Due to the easy recording of the individual particles' motion through video microscopy, the generic processes in liquids and solids can be studied at a kinetic level in complex plasmas. Under microgravity conditions, the particles are confined in the bulk plasma and form a three-dimensional cloud. In the PK-4 Laboratory on the International Space Station, melamine formaldehyde particles with diameters of 6.8 μm and 3.4 μm are consecutively injected into the plasma discharge. Due to the electrostatic force and ion drag force, usually, the particles cannot be mixed in the same region, thereby leading to a phase separation. During the particle injections, small particles penetrate into the big particle clouds and self-organize in different ways under different conditions. When the number density of the big particles is low, small particles form a channel in the center of the discharge tube due to the Yukawa repulsion, where the big particle cloud is weakly confined. When the number density of the big particles is moderate, lanes are formed during the penetration of the small particles, representing a typical nonequilibrium self-organization. When the number density of the big particles is high, dust acoustic waves are self-excited due to the two-stream instability. As the small and big particles interact with each other, the number density of particles in the wave crests sharply increases. However, the wave numbers and frequencies remain unchanged. This investigation offers insights into the different self-organizations during the particle injections in three-dimensional binary complex plasmas under microgravity conditions.
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Keywords:
- complex plasma /
- self-organization /
- microgravity








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