Abstract
Charging of micron-sized dust grains in a plasma has been investigated experimentally. Dust grains were dispersed into a fully ionized, steady-state, magnetized plasma column consisting of electrons and ions, both at a temperature of ≅0.2 eV. Langmuir probe measurements were used to determine how the negative charge in the plasma is divided between free electrons and dust grains. By varying the ratio between the intergrain spacing and the plasma Debye length, the predicted reduction in the grain charge for the case of "closely packed" grains has been demonstrated experimentally.
- Received 2 May 1994
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.73.3093
©1994 American Physical Society