Cold Plasma in ZeroG

A complex plasma is made up of a cold plasma and microparticles. The microparticles become electrically charged in the plasma and thus interact with each other. The microparticles can be observed individually using a camera and a laser, which in turn enables the investigation of structures or dynamics via image analysis. This makes complex plasmas suitable as model systems for investigating multi-particle systems. Various phenomena such as transitions of aggregate states from a liquid system to a solid system can be observed in real time, which is not possible at the atomic level, for example. In experiments on the ground, the microparticles are held in suspension by strong electric fields in the so-called plasma boundary layer. There, however, the plasma conditions and the charges and thus the interactions, structures and dynamics of the microparticles are height-dependent. In order to better understand the structures and dynamics of the microparticles, the dynamics in complex microparticle plasmas are to be investigated by means of free-fall experiments in the Einstein elevator during the immediate transition from the 1-g to the 0-g phase. The "Plasma and Space Physics" working group of the I. Institute of Physics at Justus Liebig University Giessen is collaborating with the "Institute of Transport and Automation Technology" (ITA) at Leibniz Universität Hannover to carry out the experiments.