Vortex Dynamics in Dusty Plasma Flow Past a Dust Void

Abstract

The beauty in the formation of vortices during flow around obstacles in fluid mechanics has fascinated mankind since ages. To beat the curiosity behind such an interesting phenomenon, researchers have been constantly investigating the underlying physics and its application in various areas of science. Examining the behavior of the flow and pattern formations behind an obstacle renders a suitable platform to realize the transition from laminar to turbulence. A dusty plasma system comprising of micron-sized particles acts as a unique and versatile medium to investigate such flow behavior at the most kinetic level. In this perspective, this chapter provides a brief discussion on the fundamentals of dusty plasma and its characteristics. Adding to this, a discussion on the generation of a dusty plasma medium is provided. Then, a unique model of inducing a dusty plasma flow past an obstacle at different velocities, producing counter-rotating symmetric vortices, is discussed. The obstacle in the experiment is a dust void, which is a static structure in a dusty plasma medium. Its generation mechanism is also discussed in the chapter.