Transport of dust particles was studied in radio frequency (RF) plasmas. Dust particles of two sizes were injected in the plasmas. The plasmas were generated by applying a pulse-time modulated RF voltage. The pulse-time modulation made it possible to change the electron temperature in the plasmas. The electron temperature dominates the charges of the dust particles and the electric fields around the sheath where the dust particles are levitated. The equilibrium position of the dust particles can be determined by forces on them derived from the charges and the electric fields. In this research, it was clearly shown to change the position of the dust particles and drop them from the plasmas by the pulsed-time modulation. Furthermore, the modulated RF plasma worked as sieves of the dust particles. It was possible to drop larger dust particles from the plasma, while smaller ones remain in the plasmas.
In dusty plasmas, dust particles are levitated in balance of electrostatic, ion drag and gravitational forces. These forces depend on the size of the dust particles and discharge conditions. The dust particles can be segmented on the basis of their sizes, i.e., the dust particles are levitated at different positions depending on their sizes. In this work, the dust particles with two different sizes were observed in a plasma and they were divided into segments by changing radio frequency voltage put into the plasma. Meanwhile a numerical model analyzed the forces acting on the dust particles based on ion densities measured in the plasma. The dust particles were horizontally segmented in the plasma depending on their sizes. The lager ones were distributed outside of the smaller ones. This behaviors was explained by balance of the forces on the dust particles derived in the numerical model with the ambipolar diffusion taken into account.
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