Attractive forces in dusty plasmas

尘埃颗粒（小的固体或液体宏观粒子）出现在大多数等离子体中（例如在聚变，工业和空间中）。已经提出了几种机制，这将导致晶粒之间的吸引力，但到目前为止，还没有详细的实验结果对晶粒间的力量。该项目将涉及：（1）基于经典的卡西米尔效应，发展一种全新的颗粒间吸引力理论，（2）研究各种吸引力通过尘埃晶体/云边缘的有效“表面张力”表现出来的方式，（3）利用这项工作建议对尘埃等离子体晶体中的“空隙”进行实验（如在国际空间站上观察到的）。这样的实验可以通过表面张力效应解决晶粒间力的性质。这是基础等离子体物理学的一个重要部分，它将对我们理解许多尘埃等离子体产生重大影响。如上所述，这种等离子体发生在聚变（EPSRC战略主题：能源）和工业（EPSRC战略主题：制造未来）中。这项工作与空间等离子体的相关性意味着它非常适合新创建的空间，等离子体和气候部门以及帝国空间实验室。

Dust grains (small solid or liquid macroparticles) occur in most plasmas (e.g. in fusion, industry and space). Several mechanisms which would give rise to an attractive force between grains have been proposed, but as yet there are no detailed experimental results on inter-grain forces. This project would involve: (1) develop a completely new theory of inter-grain attraction based on the classical Casimir effect, (2) study the way in which various attractive forces manifest themselves through an effective "surface tension" at the edge of a dust crystal/cloud, (3) use this work to suggest experiments on "voids" in dusty plasma crystals (as observed on the International Space Station). Such experiments could resolve the nature of the inter-grain force through surface tension effects. This is an important piece of basic plasma physics which would have significant impact on our understanding of many dusty plasmas. As mentioned above, such plasmas occur in fusion (EPSRC strategic theme: Energy) and industry (EPSRC strategic theme: Manufacturing the Future). The relevance of this work to space plasmas means it fits well in the newly created Space, Plasma and Climate Section and the Imperial Space Lab.