Control of fine particles by oscillating external forces in plasmas

Abstract

A novel technique for the control of fine particle behavior is developed and demonstrated experimentally. The technique is called a time-averaged particle driving (TAPD) method. This method contains an application of positive pulses to two point-electrodes placed facing each other with some distance in plasmas with fine particles. When the positive pulses are applied alternatively with a repetition period that is shorter than the particle response time, the particles feel only time-averaged force because of the large mass and are transported around the center between two point-electrodes. This method is quite effective for converging fine particles in the plasma.