RESEARCH ARTICLE | JUNE 01 1995

Experimental studies of charged dust particles 

Scott Robertson

Physics of Plasmas 2, 2200–2206 (1995)

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.871242

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INVITED PAPERS

Experimental studies of charged dust particles*

Scott Robertson t
Department of Astrophysical. Planetary and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder,
Colorado 80309-0391
(Received 14 November 1994; accepted 7 February 1995)
Measurements of the charge on individual dust grains of glass and copper have been made in a
double plasma device with monoenergetic primary electrons and a tenuous plasma. In conditions
where the current collected by grains is dominated by the primary electrons, the grains charge to the
potential which repels the primary electrons. The charging potential is reduced from this value when
the fast electrons are sufficiently energetic to release a comparable current of secondary electrons.
In addition, confinement of charged dust has been investigated in evacuated electrostatic traps
consisting of a center electrode at high potential within a grounded enclosure. The confinement time
of particles orbiting the center conductor may be an hour or ~ 105 orbits. The orbits are visible and
the effects of perturbations have been videotaped. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.

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I. INTRODUCTION
Plasmas in the laboratory and in space are often con-
taminated with small solid particles usually called dust. Dust
has been observed in industrial plasma processing l and in
astrophysical settings 2,3 such as cometary tails, planetary
rings, interstellar clouds, and protoplanetary disks. The loca-
tion of dust in a static or dynamic equilibrium in a laboratory
plasma is determined by the relative strengths of the forces
which include those due to gravity, electric fields, and gas-
dynamic drag. In space, the additional forces of Poynting-
Robertson drag, plasma drag, and magnetic fields are also
important. The relative strengths of these forces depend upon
the charge-to-mass ratio, The size (and hence mass) may
often be determined remotely from the magnitude and angu-
lar dependence of light scattering. The charge, however,
must be calculated from theoretical models with measured
plasma parameters as inputs. In this work, measurements are
reported for the charge on dust grains which have passed
through a laboratory device with a controlled population of
energetic electrons and a tenuous plasma. Dust grains are
often composed of nonconducting materials which have a
higher secondary emission coefficient than probe materials.
The measured charge is consistent with models developed
for describing the currents to Langmuir probes when the
models are modified to include suprathermal electrons and
secondary emission. An interesting consequence of second-
ary emission is the possibility of more than one floating po-
tential.
A characteristic of dust that is especially useful for diag-
nostics is the relatively large cross section for light scatter-
ing. In the course of the dust charging experiments, tech-
niques were developed for photographing particle
trajectories as weB as for creating streams of charged dust
'Paper 6lBl, Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 39,1661 (1994).
'Invited speaker,
particles. In order to further exploit these techniques, con-
finement systems were constructed for dust particles alone
rather than for dust particles in plasma. Electrostatic traps
were constructed with cylindrical and spherical symmetry in
which dust particles are confined in stable orbits. 4 Orbital
motion has played a fundamental role in the development of
mechanics, yet there has been no laboratory apparatus for
studying orbital motion that is sufficiently free of dissipation
to allow meaningful experiments, The confinement time of a
few dust particles in an electrostatic potential in a near-
vacuum is limited primarily by gas-dynamic drag and it is
possible to observe ~ 105 orbits before particles are lost. This
makes possible experiments which investigate the slow loss
of an adiabatic invariant or the consequences of resonant
perturbations. For example, perturbations of the orbits of as-
teroids by Jupiter have cleared gaps in the asteroid belt at
rational fractions of the orbital period of Jupiter. 5 Similar
structure exists in the rings of Saturn due to perturbations by
the moon Mimas. 6 It has been shown that these perturbations
can lead to dynamical chaos,? Orbiting dust particles offer a
means for experimentally investigating these processes and
others which occur in celestial mechanics, The experiments
reported here demonstrate precession and libration. An alter-
nate confinement scheme applicable to particles at rest has
also been investigated. In this device, an electrostatic poten-
tial sinusoidal in time and space is used to create a pondero-
motive force for leviating dust which may allow the confine-
ment of a strongly coupled, one-component dust plasma.
II. DUST CHARGING
A. Theoretical models for dust charging
In laboratory devices, there is usually a tenuous plasma
within an electron beam due to ionization of residual gas. A
complete description of the charging by such a beam requires
inclusion of the currents of thermal electrons and ions. The
theory for the charging of dust grains has been reviewed and

2200 Phys. Plasmas 2 (6), June 1995 1070-664X195/2(6)/2200171$6 .00 © 1995 American Institute of Physics
is similar to the theories for Langmuir probes8 and for the
charging of spacecraft. 9 Dust grains may be nanometers or
micrometers in size and are usually much smaller than the
Debye length. The charge on a grain is determined by the
grain capacitance and the charging potential <I>. For isolated
spherical grains, the charge is
Q= eel> = 4'7TEoa<I> , (1)
where e is the capacitance and a is the grain radius. There
are approximately 700 electrons for each volt of charge on a
grain with a radius of 1 p.m.
The charging by energetic electrons can be complicated
by the induced emission of secondary electrons. The ratio of
secondary emission current to energetic primary current can
be described by a coefficient 8 which is a function of the
energy of the primary electrons. In the case of monoenergetic
primaries, the net charging current, I, is lO
IIA = -ItC 1 + e<I>IU)(1- 8),
"" -I.r< 1 +e<I>1 U)[ 1- (U + e<I»1 Ed, - U<e<I>,
(2)
where A is the surface area of the grain, I I is the fast electron
current density to a surface at zero potential, e is the magni-
tude of the charge on an electron, U is the energy of the
electrons, and 8 is the energy-dependent secondary emission
coefficient. The first term multiplying II is due to the deflec-
tion of the trajectories of incident electrons by the grain po-
tential. The formula is valid for negative potentials which are
not so large as to completely repel the fast electrons. For
simplicity, we assume that {) varies linearly below the elec-
tron energy E I at which the coefficient is unity. The coeffi-
cient can then be written {)=-(U+ecJ»IE 1 where (U+ecJ»
is the energy with which the fast electrons strike the surface.
For energies above E I' the grain would charge positively,
however, charging to a positive potential in most experimen-
tal devices will be prevented by the collection of thermal
electrons.
The incident current of thermal electrons and ions is de-
termined by
where Ii=ne(T/2'7Tmi)1I2, Ie=ne(Ti2'7Tme)1I2, n is the
density of electrons and of ions, mi and me are the ion and
electron masses, respectively, and Ti and Te are the ion and
electron temperatures, respectively, in energy units. Within a
plasma, <P is the grain potential relative to the plasma poten-
tial. Ions are assumed to be singly charged. The algebraic
factor multiplying Ii arises from the deflection of ion trajec-
tories toward the negatively charged dust particles. Grains in
plasma charge to the floating potential which is the point at
which 1= O. The floating potential for a hydrogen plasma
with equal electron and ion temperatures 11 is - 2.5 1 Tel e.
The factor multiplying Tie varies logarithmically with
plasma parameters and is usually between -1.5 and -4.5.
The net charging current for both thermal particles and
fast electrons is then
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No.6, June 1995
2
1.5
I
U=60 48 1-
~~
AJ e
0.5
!____.___ --+_---:="...-~=~s:~:;;,::::::::=l.~ 0
-0.5
-80 -60 -40 -20 o
Il) (volts)
FIG. 1. A plot of Eq. (4), the current collected by a surface at potential <P,
for three energies of fast electrons (U=60, 48, and 30 eV). The assumed
parameters are Jf=J e , E) =45 V, T;=T.= I eV, and the ion mass of argon.
The current density is normalized to If' Note the appearance of three Hoat-
ing potentials at U=60 eV. For <P< - Ule, only ion current is collected.
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~==-Ie exp(eT:)+Ii( 1- e:)-IA 1+ e:)
x( 1- (U:~<I»), -U<e<I><O. (4)
A similar model has been used to describe the current to
Langmuir probes. IO Photoemission and secondary emission
induced by the thermal particles are negligible. Secondary
emission is a more important issue for dust than for Lang-
muir probes because the oxides and silicates found in many
dusts 12 have a larger secondary emission coefficient than the
refractory metals used for probes. 13
A charging time, r, can be defined in terms of a char-
acteristic potential and a characteristic charging current. If
the potential is assumed to be - Ule and the charging cur-
rent density is assumed to be If' then
r*=UEoleIfa. (5)
The floating potential is approached asymptotically because
the charging current decreases as the equilibrium potential is
approached. For our experiment, the residence time of the
dust is long compared with r.
Plots of the charging current as a function of potential,
Eq. (4), are shown in Fig. 1 for monoenergetic fast electrons
with energies of 30, 48, or 60 e V. The assumed parameters of
the thermal plasma are le=lf' Te=Ti= 1 V and the ion
mass of argon. The collecting surface is a substance for
which secondary emission is important at relatively low en-
ergy (E 1 =45 V). For a fast electron energy of 30 eV, the
secondary emission coefficient is below unity and there is
one floating potential near - 30 V. For a fast electron energy
of 60 e V, the secondary emission exceeds unity when <P is
less negative than -15 V, the net current due to fast electrons
changes sign and the resulting curve shows three floating
potentials. The transition from one to three floating potentials
occurs at an intermediate electron energy of 48 e V. The
middle of the three floating potentials is not stable because
the current collected at points on either side lead to charging
to the neighboring stable floating potential. A dust grain be-
Scott Robertson 2201
 Fast electron energy, U (eV)
FIG. 2. A plot of the floating potential nearest the origin (solid line), from
Eq. (4), as a function of the fast electron energy for the parameters of Fig. I.
The curve jumps discontinuously (arrow) at U=48 eV. The dotted line,
e<P= - U, is the potential at which the fast electrons are completely re-
pelled. Grains charge to a less negative potential due to the collection of
ions.
ginning at zero potential will charge to the first floating po-
tential to the left of the axis. Figure 2 is a plot of the floating
potential nearest the origin as a function of the energy of the
fast electrons. The floating potential jumps discontinuously
at U = 4 8 eV because the minimum in the /- cI> curve no
longer passes below the axis. For conditions in which the fast
electrons are the dominant current, this jump occurs near E 1,
the point at which the secondary emission coefficient ex-
ceeds unity. At energies below E 1, the charging potential is
nearly independent of plasma parameters. Above E l ' how-
ever, a model which does not include the thermal plasma
does not correctly predict the floating potential.
B. The dust charging experiment
The apparatus for measuring the charge on dust is a DP
(double plasma) device 14 which has previously been
described. 15 .16 In the present study, one chamber of the de-
vice (30 cm diameter X30 cm long) is used (Fig. 3). A
stream of electrons is generated by a filament at the end wall.
This filament is 3 cm long, is operated at an emission of 2
mA, and has a voltage drop of only 2 V. The electrons are
Dust dropper
Langmuir
1
~ To pump
r--H-"';/~ probe
/
Short
filament
1- Faraday cup
~ 30cm --7
FIG. 3. A schematic diagram of the DP machine used for dust charge mea-
surements. The dust enters from the dropper at the top and falls into the
Faraday cup below.
2202 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No.6, June 1995
FIG. 4. Photomicrographs of glass microballoons (leftl and of copper grains
(right). The samples have been sieved to select fractions with diameters in
the range 53-63 /Lm. The small divisions of the scale measure 10 /Lm.
nearly monoenergetic and can be accurately described by the
delta function used in the derivation of Eq. (2). The chamber
is filled with 2X 10- 6 Torr of argon so that the composition
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of the plasma within the electron stream is known. The
plasma parameters are measured by a nickel wire probe
which may be scanned radially and axially. The probe char-
acteristics are recorded by a digital data acquisition system
and the density and temperature are determined by computer
programs which determine the free parameters in Eq. (4).
The dusts that are used are hollow spherical microbal-
loons of borosilicate glass or angular grains of copper (Fig.
4). Grains with a particular range of size are selected using
screen mesh sieves. The fraction used in this study has di-
ameters in the range 53-63 J.Lm.17 Photomicrographs of the
sieved micro balloons show small bits of broken spheres
which cannot be entirely eliminated.
The dust is dropped into the device through a diagnostic
port at the top of the chamber and falls into a Faraday cup in
a diagnostic arm below the chamber. 16 The dropper is a thin
disk with a central hole. Dust drops through the hole when
the disk is "kicked" by a pulse from an electromagnet pow-
ered by a pulse generator. The pulse repetition rate is ap-
proximately 2 Hz and the amplitUde of the pulse is adjusted
so that grains drop on about one-fifth the pulses. Signals
from multiple grains can be identified by their waveform and
are not used. The Faraday cup is connected to a charge-
sensitive amplifier and the height of the resulting pulse is a
measure of the charge on the grain.
N
~ •
120
80
160
la
~
Q..
..
~--~~a;~~w·~·~·~·~·-·--·-·-·-·-·--r--------+o
•••••••••
40
-40
-80 -60 -40 ·20 o
Probe potential relative to the wall (volts)
FIG. 5. Langmuir probe characteristics at low fill pressure (2X 10- 6 Torr)
with 60 eV fast electrons. The floating potential is -56 V.
Scott Robertson
 1.5
CD
Copper Grains
CD
o o a
0 0 .5 •
a Glass Microballoons
o o
o~~~~-~~--~~--+-----------~
o 20 40 60 80 100
Fast electron energy, U (eV)
FIG. 6. Measured charge on grains as a function of fast electron energy. The
data for copper are filled circles and the data for glass microballoons are
open squares. For clarity, only a few error bars are shown. The charge is in
units of the electron charge and each point is an average of 50 measure-
ments. The solid line is the charge expected if the grains charge to the
filament potential.
c. Experimental data
The three floating potentials illustrated in Fig. 1 occur
when the fast electron energy is near Eland the fast electron
current is not small when compared with the thermal electron
current (Ji;;;r.1 e ). The Langmuir probe trace for a -60 V
filament bias, Fig. 5, shows a floating potential of - 56 V.
With higher pressure than 2X 10- 6 Torr of argon, the ion
current is sufficient to move the curve downward so that the
floating potential is a few times - Tie. This shift to a less
negative floating potential also occurs when plasma genera-
tion is increased by making the filament bias more negative
than -60 V. The floating potential follows the filament po-
tential for filament bias from -20 to -60 V. The charging
model, Eq. (4), can be fit to the Langmuir probe data to find
that 1f =38. nNcm2 and that 1e= 14 nNcm2 • The charging
time ~ is 24 ms. The particles exit the device at 2 mls thus
the charge on the particles is indicative of conditions in the
last 4.8 cm of travel. In the tenuous plasma within the elec-
tron stream, the Debye length is also approximately 5 cm.
The charge on grains as a function of filament potential
is shown in Fig. 6. The data are for glass microballoons
which have relatively high secondary emission (E 1= 40 V)
and for copper dust (E 1= 200 V).13 The curve for glass has
the characteristic shape shown in Fig. 2 for substances with
three floating potentials. Figures 2 and 6 are only approxi-
mately analogous because the plasma density is held fixed in
Fig. 2 but in the experiment the density increases with fila-
ment potential. The copper and the glass charge nearly to the
potential of the filament for potentials less negative than
about -40 V. At more negative potentials, the secondary
emission coefficient for glass exceeds unity and the charging
potential drops discontinuously. At the transition, the data
contain a wide range of values. The charge on copper grains
becomes less negative with increasing electron energy be-
cause the ion current increases due to the increased ioniza-
tion of gas by the higher energy primaries.
III. ELECTROSTATIC AND PONDEROMOTIVE
CONFINEMENT
A. Kingdon trap
Dust confinement experiments are performed in a King-
don trap18,19 which is simply a grounded cylinder with a
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No.6, June 1995
CCD
camera
Patch electrode Center rod
To pump electrode
FIG. 7. Schematic diagram of the dust trapping experiment. Dust particles
are released from the dropper and are charged as they pass a filament emit-
ting electrons. The particles are detected by the image charge induced in a
cylinder and fall into the trap where they are trapped by the increasing
potential on the center rod. A patch electrode (5 cm square) at the bottom of
the trap is used to apply sinusoidal perturbations.
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coaxial central wire biased to a high potential (Fig. 7). The
trap has an inner diameter of 3 mrn, an outer diameter of 75
mrn, and is 57 mrn long. This type of trap was originally
developed for the spectroscopy of ions created in situ by an
electron beam. In the case of dust, the particles are charged
externally and are dropped into the trap by the mechanism
developed for the dust charging experiments. The dropper is
displaced 1 cm laterally so that the dropped particles do not
hit the center rod. The initial downward velocity of the dust
requires that the trap be oriented with the axis horizontal. A
positive potential is applied to the rod at the appropriate time
to trap the particles.
Dust particles with negative charges have been stored in
Paul traps for months without any apparent loss of charge. 2o
Glass microballoons are used because of their large light-
scattering cross section at a given charge-to-mass ratio. The
micro balloons are charged by electrons from a short tungsten
filament emitting approximately. 0.2 mAo The measured
charge on the microballoons varies linearly with the filament
potential down to -35 V. At potentials more negative, the
charge is decreased by secondary emission. The largest size
which can be used is determined by the available trapping
potential which must offset the force of gravity. A convenient
particle radius is 25 /-Lm which requires a trapping potential
of 5-10 kV. The trapped particles gain and lose energy from
gravity as they orbit the rod. To have this perturbation in
energy at the 10% level, the dropping distance IS made ten
times the desired orbit diameter of 2 cm. The dropping dis-
tance of 20 cm determines the initial orbital velocity of 2
mls.
The orbiting dust can be seen, photographed, and video-
taped when illuminated by a focused beam from a projection
lamp. The orbital frequency, ~30 Hz for an orbit of 1 cm
radius, varies inversely with radius and is determined by the
trapping radius and the initial velocity. Particles have been
observed for up to an hour or about 105 orbits. The orbital
decay time is consistent with molecular drag at the pressure
in the trap of 1 X 10- 6 Torr. The initially oval orbits 21 ,22 pre-
Scott Robertson 2203

a)
::.......
. -
-;
, ..
..
~ .• ":," I.' J. :" -l .'J::
:,! "Ii' ....... '\[v-.; Vl~"{.
,-~""""
"~:'f~:%11fft;r
)
b) t
FIG. 8. (a) A negative photograph of an orbiter in the cylindrical Kingdon
trap. The illumination is from the right and the shadow of the center rod
(obscured) is cast to the left. There are 10 orbits in this 0.2 s exposure. The
precession per orbit is approximately 105°. The major axis is -I cm. (b) A
streak photograph constructed from central scan lines taken from successive
video frames. The trap axis is at the bottom. The sinusoidal variation in the
orbital radius is due to a resonant perturbation applied by the sector elec-
trode at the bottom of the trap. The mean radius is -I cm and the radial
oscillation is at 4 Hz. The perturbation is removed just before the end of the
period shown.
cess in the approximately logarithmic potential of the trap
[Fig. 8(a)] and become circular in a time shorter than the
decay time.
A sinusoidal perturbation can be applied by a patch elec-
trode (Fig. 7) at the outer wall of the trap. A perturbation of
200 V applied at the orbital frequency causes the orbit to
oscillate in radius [Fig. 8(b)]. A particle which is "cyclotron
heated" by a I: 1 resonant perturbation will move to a higher
orbit which has a slightly lower frequency. The lower fre-
quency increases the relative phase between the perturbation
and the orbit so that the perturbation becomes decelerating.
The resulting motion is an oscillation (libration) around the
resonant orbit.
The number of particles orbiting simultaneously can be
increased by dropping more particles; however, only a small
fraction of the dropped particles are trapped. The largest
number of particles trapped to date is six.4 Electrostatic
waves should be observable if the number of particles is
increased to _10 3. At this point the plasma frequency be-
comes comparable to the orbital frequency. The disk-like ge-
ometry of particles confined in the Kingdon trap is similar to
that of galaxies and planetary rings and would offer the op-
portunity to examine the modes of oscillation and the insta-
bilities predicted for these disk-like equiIibria. 23
2204 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No.6, June 1995
I ----·--~-I/ Outer c;,~:::tatiC
.---'--_--, / / ~ shields
100%V
a) Resistive voltage divider
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b)
FIG. 9. (al A "spherical" version of the Kingdon trap. The potential on the
rod supporting the sphere is graded by three coaxial electrostatic shields
biased by a voltage divider of resistors with R = 20 MD. The cubical outer
conductor has holes with mesh grids to allow the entry and exit of the dust.
(b) A negati ve photograph of an orbiter in the spherical trap. The exposure
duration is one video frame (approximately 1130 s) which shows less than a
complete orbit. The orbit is seen against a blackened viewing dump which
appears white. The supporting stalk and biased cylinders are visible at the
right side of the figure.
B. Spherical trap
A spherical version of the Kingdon trap is used to inves-
tigate motion in a potential which is approximately Keple-
rian [Fig. 9(a)]. The center rod is replaced with a 12.7 mm
diameter sphere supported on a stalk. A constant potential
along the supporting stalk would perturb the spherical sym-
metry. To reduce this perturbation, the stalk is covered with
concentric cylinders biased to approximately restore the 1/ r
dependence. The downward force of gravity causes orbits to
precess so that they intersect the stalk. The precession is
slowed by applying an upward electric force to approxi-
mately cancel gravity. The application of this field is simpli-
fied by sacrificing complete spherical symmetry and making
the outer conductor a cubical box with electrically isolated
sides. Static potentials of ±60 V are applied to the top and
bottom. A preferred orbital plane perpendicular to the stalk is
defined by biasing two more sides of the cube with ±260 V
so that there is a field parallel to the stalk. This field causes
the plane of the orbit to remain within a fixed angular dis-
tance from the preferred plane. The particles are observed to
initially precess slowly (a few precessions per second) and to
circularize [Fig. 9(b)]. The ellipticity of orbits is detennined
by the initial conditions and the precession rate in the pre-
ferred plane is detennined by the deviation from a 1/ r po-
tential. The observed confinement time (- 10 min) is shorter
Scott Robertson

A.C.
High Voltage
a)
b)
01'0
". .
........ _4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FIG. 10. (a) A planar trap for generating an upward ponderomotive force to
cancel gravity. The horizontal plane of the wires may be made slightly
concave to provide radial confinement. (b) A group of levitated charged dust
particles. The view is parallel to the planar grid and perpendicular to the
wires. A 1 mm thick vertical sheet of laser light illuminates a row of par-
ticles suspended above a single grid wire. The region shown is approxi-
mately 2 cm wide. The lack of close spacing is due to Coulomb repulsion.
than in the cylindrical Kingdon trap for reasons which are
not yet fully understood. Continuing experiments are aimed
at lengthening the confinement time and at understanding the
mechanism for circularization.
C. Planar trap
A confining electrostatic potential requires a conductor
internal to the trap as a consequence of Laplace's equation.
Particles must have sufficient angular velocity if they are not
to hit the central conductor. The radial shear in angular ve-
locity prevents the appearance of any crystal-like structure
which may arise from the Coulomb interaction. Confinement
without a central conductor or velocity shear can be achieved
by the use of the ponderomotive force. Confinement of dust
particles by the radially inward ponderomotive force of a
Paul trap was demonstrated 40 years ago and crystal-like
arravs were observed.24 The coupling is described by the
par~meter r= Q2/47TE OdT, where Q is the charge on a par-
ticle, T is the temperature in energy units, and d is the mean
particle spacing. The charge which can be put on macro-
scopic particles, typically about 10- 13 C, results in coupling
which is about 12 orders of magnitude larger than that for
singly charged ions with the same temperature and spacing.
For example, at room temperature with a charge of 106 elec-
trons and a spacing of 1 ern, one finds r=106 . The large
value of Q for dust also increases the effectiveness of the
ponderomotive force which scales as Q2. A disadvantage in
using charged dust to investigate strong coupling has been
the lack of control over the charge-to-mass ratio. This objec-
tion may be overcome through the use of improved tech-
niques for charging dust.
A two-dimensional configuration for confining dust with
the ponderomotive force is the picket fence arrangement
shown in Fig. lO(a). The odd-numbered wires in a parallel
grid are connected to an AC source and the remaining wires
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No.6, June 1995
are grounded. The resulting electric field 25 generates a pon-
deromotive potential26 which decreases exponentially with
distance from the grid. In the far field, the ponderomotive
equipotentials are nearly planar. A 10 cm square prototype
was constructed on standard printed circuit board with wire
°
spacing of 5.1 mm. The AC voltage is limited to 1000 V by
breakdown. There being no need to avoid atmospheric drag,
the experiments are performed in air with microballoons in-
jected from above by a syringe and charged by friction. 2o
Atmospheric drag is used to damp the initial velocity of the
dust which would prevent trapping by the weak ponderomo-
tive force. Dust particles are observed to levitate approxi-
mately one wire spacing above the grid [Fig. lO(b)]. This
being the near field, the dust density is modulated with
maxima occurring above wires. The high pressure needed for
trapping by drag is inconsistent with charging by electrons
from a filament which would give the desired narrow range
of charge-to-mass ratio. Further research is aimed at finding
a combination of electrostatic and ponderomotive forces
which will allowtrapping iIi vacuum in the far field.
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IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The charging of dust grains has been measured in an
environment of fast electrons and tenuous thermal plasma.
The charging of glass and copper dust particles with diam-
eters in the range 53 to 63 /Lm is consistent with a model
based upon Langmuir probe theory for plasma with energetic
electrons. For primary electrons of energy U with a current
density exceeding that of the thermal electrons, the grains
charge to the potential - U/e, unless the electrons are suffi-
ciently energetic to create a comparable current of secondar-
ies. The floating potential is decreased from this value when
the energy of the fast electrons is made greater than the en-
ergy at which the secondary emission coefficient exceeds
unity. Similar behavior has been seen in the floating potential
of Langmuir probes in plasmas with primary electrons suffi-
ciently energetic (~300 e V) to cause significant secondary
emission from probe materials. IO
The visibility of dust particles makes possible interesting
demonstrations of particle confinement and of orbital me-
chanics. Dust particles have been confined in orbits in cylin-
drically and spherically symmetric electrostatic potentials
and have been confined at rest by ponderomotive potentials.
Videotapes have been made of phenomena from celestial me-
chanics such as precession and libration. Problems in few-
body mechanics are easily addressed by computational tech-
niques, thus the application of these confinement systems to
research will be in areas such as non-neutral and strongly
coupled plasmas where the long range of the Coulomb force
makes analytical and computational work difficult.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
These experiments were made possible by several col-
laborators. Mihaly Horanyi suggested the initial experiments
and provided theoretical support. Bob Walch carried out the
dust charging experiments in plasma with support from the
Scott Robertson 2205
Joint Venture Program of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration. Ted Biewer and Greg Newton carried out the
trapping experiments with support from the Research Expe-
riences for Undergraduates Program of the National Science
Foundation. Bob Walch and David Alexander provided di-
rection and guidance for the student projects. Scott Kittleman
developed the software for generating the streak photographs
from the videotapes.
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17 Asymmetric copper grains, in contrast to spherical grains, can pass
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Scott Robertson