Fundamental Processes in Plasmas (Physics)

等离子体由带电粒子的集合组成，具有中性原子和分子组成的普通气体所没有的许多特性。特别是，等离子体直接受到电场和磁场的影响，这些相互作用形成了等离子体约束和研究的基本工具。通常，等离子体具有相等数量的带电粒子，因此总体上是电中性的。在这里支持的工作中，形成并研究了一种独特类型的等离子体：一种由带有一个电荷符号的粒子（电子）组成的等离子体。这样的等离子体在实验上特别容易处理，其行为的重要方面可以在没有冲突效应的情况下被分离和测量。这种纯电子等离子体的一个独特之处在于，当它冷却时，预计会先变成液体，然后变成固体。这些新特性将被研究。

A plasma consists of a collection of charged particles-and has many properties not found in the more usual gases of neutral atoms and molecules. In particular, plasmas are affected directly by electric and magnetic fields, and these interactions form a basic tool for plasma confinement and study. Usually, plasmas have equal numbers of charged particles of both signs, and thus are overall electrically neutral. In the work supported here a unique type of plasma is formed and studied: one consisting of particles (electrons) all of one sign of electric charge. Such a plasma is particularly tractable experimentally, and important aspects of its behavior can be isolated and measured free of conflicting effects. One unique feature of such pure-electron plasmas is that when cooled it is predicted to become first a liquid and then a solid. These novel properties will be investigated.