Aerosol and dusty plasmas control by the electron beam irradiation

Abstract

Cold plasma generation in gases at forevacuum pressures containing dispersed fine powders of corundum, carbon, or acetylsalicylic acid by the electron beam (EB) irradiation was studied experimentally and by computer simulation, the grains forming aerosol bulks with chaotically moving particles or ordered dusty structures. Depending on the gas pressure, undisturbed dust motion in aerosol layers or disturbed motion modes stimulated by the EB action were observed. In undisturbed modes, the plasma volume contracted when dusts added to the gas. In disturbed modes, the grains flied away the EB propagation axis and moved along it forming free of dust channels in the aerosol layer. The EB irradiation of ordered dusty plasma structures was considered in the context of the grains motion remote control. When the EB was injected over the dusty structure horizontally levitating in the RF gas discharge, the beam attracted or repulsed grains depending on the beam-structure distance.