Experimental demonstration of plasma-drag acceleration of a dust cloud to hypervelocities

Simultaneous acceleration of hundreds of dust particles to hypervelocities by collimated plasma flows ejected from a coaxial gun is demonstrated. Graphite and diamond grains with radii between 5 and 30 microm, and flying at speeds up to 3.7 km/s, have been recorded with a high-speed camera. The obse...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2008-04, Vol.100 (15), p.155002-155002, Article 155002
Main Authors: Ticoş, C M, Wang, Zhehui, Wurden, G A, Kline, J L, Montgomery, D S, Dorf, L A, Shukla, P K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ACCELERATION
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS
DIAMONDS
DRAG
DUSTS
GRAPHITE
PLASMA
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Summary:Simultaneous acceleration of hundreds of dust particles to hypervelocities by collimated plasma flows ejected from a coaxial gun is demonstrated. Graphite and diamond grains with radii between 5 and 30 microm, and flying at speeds up to 3.7 km/s, have been recorded with a high-speed camera. The observations agree well with a model for plasma-drag acceleration of microparticles much larger than the plasma screening length.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.155002