Regular Article

Non-Maxwellian and magnetic field effects in complex plasma wakes^★

¹ Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
² Institut für Experimentelle und Angewandte Physik, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
³ ABB Switzerland Ltd., Baden-Dättwil, Switzerland

^a e-mail: ludwig@theo-physik.uni-kiel.de

Received: 15 June 2017
Published online: 10 May 2018

Abstract

In a streaming plasma, negatively charged dust particles create complex charge distributions on the downstream side of the particle, which are responsible for attractive forces between the like-charged particles. This wake phenomenon is studied by means of refined linear response theory and molecular dynamics simulations as well as in experiments. Particular attention is paid to non-Maxwellian velocity distributions that are found in the plasma sheath and to situations with strong magnetic fields, which are becoming increasingly important. Non-Maxwellian distributions and strong magnetic fields result in a substantial damping of the oscillatory wake potential. The interaction force in particle pairs is explored with the phase-resolved resonance method, which demonstrates the non-reciprocity of the interparticle forces in unmagnetized and magnetized systems.