Title: Emergent Phenomena in 2D Dusty Plasma Crystals

Author (Talk): Guga Gogia, Emory University

Abstract:

A dusty or "complex" plasma consists of solid particles immersed in partially ionized plasma. At high densities, the particles can form crystalline lattices and serve as a model system to study various physical phenomena such as phase transitions, phase separation, and lattice waves. In our lab we create a two-dimensional crystalline and disordered systems of particles. Such systems are known to be sensitive to a nonlinear coupling between transverse and longitudinal phonons which cause the system to violently melt at low ambient plasma pressures. However, contrary to this, we find that the crystalline lattice can re-stabilize at very low pressures and bias voltages. Moreover, under specific values of pressure and voltage, we found that system experiences a number of transient instabilities which can be periodic or show evidence of chaotic behavior.

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