Determination of dust particle charge using the deflection method in a plasma

Abstract

In this article an examination is made of the reported comparisons between the charge on a dust particle determined by the deflection method using a voltage applied perpendicular to the dust particle’s trajectory and the charge determined by the capacitor charging model using the floating potential measured by a Langmuir probe within the plasma. The reason for the observed discrepancy between the charge values from the two methods is discussed and a calculation is presented for the dust charge using the deflection method, which includes the ion drag force on the dust particle. This deflection calculation removes the discrepancy and shows good agreement with the reported capacitor model values.