Guest Editorial Special Issue on Dusty Plasmas

This special issue contains papers solicited at the 13th Workshop on the Physics of Dusty Plasmas held May 20-23 in Waco, TX, USA and follows the tradition of earlier workshops, which resulted in such issues in 1994, 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2010. Dusty plasmas constitute a fully developed interdisciplinary field with direct connections to astrophysics, nanoscience, fluid mechanics, and material science as defined through experimental, theoretical, and numerical studies. The field achieved an interdisciplinary research focus when the 1986 fly by of Halley's Comet and Voyager's images of Saturn's rings focused the attention of plasma physicists on a field that had previously been considered as purely planetary science. Joint efforts between these disciplines quickly led to rapid advancement in both plasma physics (e.g., discovery of dustacoustic waves, dust-ion-acoustic waves) and the planetary sciences (e.g., spokes in Saturn's rings, Jovian stream particles). The primary objectives of the 13th Workshop on the Physics of Dusty Plasmas were to provide a review of recent advancements in the field of complex plasma, define new/existing/outstanding issues and research challenges, and strengthen engagement between the field of complex plasma and other research related disciplines. Researchers from universities all over the world, including twenty-six graduate students evenly split between universities in the United States and international universities, participated in the workshop. Eighty-six paper and poster presentations were accepted covering topics including laboratory, theoretical, and computational studies of dust plasma interactions. Sixteen papers from the Waco meeting appear in this special issue covering topics across a variety of theoretical and experimental areas. Instabilities in dusty plasma systems, the manner in which such instabilities are believed to be linked to the onset of dust density or dust-acoustic waves and the mechanism by which these waves evolve and are related to the ambient plasma are reported. Dust dynamics, mass loss, and a method for employing the plasma glow to probe the plasma sheath in the vertical direction are discussed. A numerical method allowing calculation of the grain charge while including secondary electron emission and the application of this method to the lunar environment is provided. Finally techniques for stereoscopic observations, three-dimensional models of dust plasma interactions and dusty plasma experiments allowing inspection of magnetized dusty plasmas and dusty plasma environments containing chemically reactive gases are reported.