Transport of Dust Particles in Very Low-Pressure Magnetized Plasma Studied by Rapid Imaging

Incandescent dust particles are observed to the naked eye in pure acetylene plasmas excited at electron cyclotron resonance (ECR). Their transport in a plane parallel to the magnets is studied using fast imaging combined with a tracking algorithm. The dynamics of dust particles exhibit specific trends depending on the direction considered within the magnetic field (B⃗), the position in the plasma reactor, and the time after plasma ignition. This transport is discussed considering the electric and the ion drag forces. Although the transport of dust particles is governed by the space-charge electric field in the direction parallel to B⃗, it involves cross-field mechanisms in the direction perpendicular to B⃗ related, specifically, to the ambipolar E⃗ x B⃗ drift as supported by a simple model. However, to fully describe these transport phenomena, one would also consider spatial and time-evolutions of plasma parameters in the dusty plasma.