Potential distribution around a charged dust grain in an electronegative plasma

Abstract

The potential distribution around a charged dust grain in an electronegative plasma is obtained by using the appropriate dielectric susceptibilities for the Boltzmann distributed electrons and negative ions, and for the inertial positive ions that are streaming from the bulk plasma into the electronegative plasma sheath. The existence of oscillatory ion wakefields is shown. Positive ions are trapped/focused in the ion wakefields, and subsequently the negative dust particles are attracted to each other, forming ordered dust structures. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010.