Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Hoim, Terje

Thesis/Dissertation Co-Chair

Johnson, Andrew

Additional Committee Member 1

Blue, Meredith

Abstract

Dust particles in plasma can arrange themselves into a vertical con guration when placed inside a glass box. What really occurs in the glass box is still unknown and is di cult to nd out by direct methods of measurement. In this thesis, the dust chains are investigated through probe oscillations and a Matlab simulation that uses a parallel plate capacitor to model an electric eld. Parameters of the plasma and dispersion relations for the transverse oscillation are extracted from the chain's motion. For both longitudinal and transverse oscillatory motion, the simulation is used to nd the charge on all the dust in the chains and to simulate the chain's motion. The plasma parameter values are expected within experimental error. The dispersion relations show that more than one wave motion propagates through the chain. The charge found is much higher than expected, and so the simulated motion may not be very accurate.

Comments

Includes bibliography.

Extent

70 p.

Identifier

FA00003615

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