Vertical oscillations of microparticles trapped in the sheath of a capacitive rf discharge have been excited showing a strongly nonlinear resonance. The nonlinear oscillations are analyzed in terms of an anharmonic fourth-order potential energy curve. It is demonstrated that the observed nonlinearities can be related to a position dependent charge of the microspheres, whereas the electric field is found to be as nearly linearly increasing. The experimental results on the position dependent charging and electric field structure are compared to a numerical model.

Monodisperse plastic microspheres have been dropped through a long radio-frequency discharge column. The trajectories of the falling particles have been measured. It was observed that the particles are driven out of the plasma. From the trajectory analysis and plasma measurements the forces on the particles have been derived. Special attention has been paid to the thermophoresis and ion drag forces which are also considered to be responsible for the void formation in microgravity experiments. Two experimental situations have been considered here: first a plasma characterized by its natural symmetric electric potential and temperature distribution and second, a plasma with an asymmetric temperature and electric potential profile. For both cases a good agreement has been found between the measured “trajectory force” obtained from the particle trajectory analysis and the sum of the ion drag, thermophoretic and electric field force.

Experiments on the quantitative determination of the weaker forces (ion drag, thermophoresis, and electric field force) on free-falling dust particles in a rf discharge tube are presented. The strongest force, gravity, is balanced by gas friction and the weaker forces are investigated in the radial (horizontal) plane. Under most discharge conditions, the particles are found to be expelled from the central plasma region. A transition to a situation where the falling particles are focused into the plasma center is observed at low gas pressures using small particles. These investigations allow a quantitative understanding of the mechanism of unwanted dust-free areas (so-called voids) in dusty plasmas under microgravity. Good quantitative agreement with standard models of the ion drag is found.

An overview of the properties of plasma crystals and clusters is given with emphasis on oscillations of particles in the plasma trap, instabilities associated with the solid-liquid phase transition and the propagation of waves. It is demonstrated how laser manipulation can be used to stimulate particle motion and waves. From characteristic resonance frequencies and from wave dispersion the particle charge and shielding length parameters, which determine the interparticle forces, can be quantitatively measured.

In this Response, it is shown that the use of the electron Debye length in the determination of the ion drag force is well justified. The claim of an incorrect analysis of our results is strongly refuted. The applicability of various ion drag models and the role of the shielding length of dust grains is discussed.