Patrick Ludwig

Structural Properties of Screened Coulomb Balls

Small three-dimensional strongly coupled charged particles in a spherical confinement potential arrange themselves in a nested shell structure. By means of experiments, computer simulations, and theoretical analysis, the sensitivity of their structural properties to the type of interparticle forces is explored. While the normalized shell radii are found to be independent of shielding, the shell occupation numbers are sensitive to screening and are quantitatively explained by an isotropic Yukawa model.

Introduction to complex plasmas

Complex Plasmas.- Classical and Quantum Plasmas.- Principles of Transport in Multicomponent Plasmas.- to Quantum Plasmas.- to Quantum Plasma Simulations.- Quantum Effects in Plasma Dielectric Response: Plasmons and Shielding in Normal Systems and Graphene.- Strongly Coupled and Dusty Plasmas.- Imaging Diagnostics in Dusty Plasmas.- Structure and Dynamics of Finite Dust Clusters.- Statistical Theory of Spherically Confined Dust Crystals.- PIC-MCC Simulations of Capacitive High-Frequency Discharge Dynamics with Nanoparticles.- Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Strongly Correlated Dusty Plasmas.- Reactive Plasmas, Plasma-Surface Interaction, Technological Applications.- Nonthermal Reactive Plasmas.- Formation and Deposition of Nanosize Particles on Surfaces.- Kinetic and Diagnostic Studies of Molecular Plasmas Using Laser Absorption Techniques.- X-Ray Diagnostics of Plasma-Deposited Thin Layers.- The Use of Nonthermal Plasmas in Environmental Applications.- Complex (Dusty) Plasmas: Application in Material Processing and Tools for Plasma Diagnostics.

On the wake structure in streaming complex plasmas

The theoretical description of complex (dusty) plasmas requires multiscale concepts that adequately incorporate the correlated interplay of streaming electrons and ions, neutrals and dust grains. Knowing the effective dust-dust interaction, the multiscale problem can be effectively reduced to a one-component plasma model of the dust subsystem. The goal of this paper is a systematic evaluation of the electrostatic potential distribution around a dust grain in the presence of a streaming plasma environment by means of two complementary approaches: (i) a high-precision computation of the dynamically screened Coulomb potential from the dynamic dielectric function and (ii) full 3D particle-in-cell simulations, which self-consistently include dynamical grain charging and nonlinear effects. The range of applicability of these two approaches is addressed.

Classical and quantum Coulomb crystals

Strong correlation effects in classical and quantum plasmas are discussed. In particular, Coulomb (Wigner) crystallization phenomena are reviewed focusing on one-component non-neutral plasmas in traps and on macroscopic two-component neutral plasmas. The conditions for crystal formation in terms of critical values of the coupling parameters and the distance fluctuations and the phase diagram of Coulomb crystals are discussed.

Statically screened ion potential and Bohm potential in a quantum plasma

The effective potential Φ of a classical ion in a weakly correlated quantum plasma in thermodynamic equilibrium at finite temperature is well described by the random phase approximation screened Coulomb potential. Additionally, collision effects can be included via a relaxation time ansatz (Mermin dielectric function). These potentials are used to study the quality of various statically screened potentials that were recently proposed by Shukla and Eliasson (SE) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 165007 (2012)], Akbari-Moghanjoughi (AM) [Phys. Plasmas 22, 022103 (2015)], and Stanton and Murillo (SM) [Phys. Rev. E 91, 033104 (2015)] starting from quantum hydrodynamic (QHD) theory. Our analysis reveals that the SE potential is qualitatively different from the full potential, whereas the SM potential (at any temperature) and the AM potential (at zero temperature) are significantly more accurate. This confirms the correctness of the recently derived [Michta et al., Contrib. Plasma Phys. 55, 437 (2015)] pre-factor 1/9 in f...

Melting of trapped few-particle systems.

In small confined systems predictions for the melting point strongly depend on the choice of quantity and on the way it is computed, even yielding divergent and ambiguous results. We present a very simple quantity that allows us to control these problems-the variance of the block averaged interparticle distance fluctuations.

Existence and vanishing of the breathing mode in strongly correlated finite systems.

One of the fundamental eigenmodes of finite interacting systems is the mode of uniform radial expansion and contraction-the breathing mode (BM). Here we show in a general way that this mode exists only under special conditions: (i) for harmonically trapped systems with interaction potentials of the form 1/rgamma (gamma in R not equal 0) or log(r), or (ii) for some systems with special symmetry such as single-shell systems forming platonic bodies. Deviations from the BM are demonstrated for two examples: clusters interacting with a Lennard-Jones potential and parabolically trapped systems with Yukawa repulsion. We also show that vanishing of the BM leads to the occurrence of multiple monopole oscillations which is of importance for experiments.

3D Coulomb balls: experiment and simulation

Spherically symmetric three-dimensional charged particle clusters are analyzed experimentally and theoretically. Based on accurate molecular dynamics simulations ground state configurations and energies with clusters for N ≤ 160 are presented which correct previous results of Hasse and Avilov [Phys. Rev. A 44, 4506 (1991)]. A complete table is given in the appendix. Further, the lowest metastable states are analyzed.

Probability of metastable configurations in spherical three-dimensional Yukawa crystals.

Recently the occurrence probabilities of ground and metastable states of three-dimensional Yukawa clusters with 27 and 31 particles have been analyzed in dusty plasma experiments [D. Block, Phys. Plasmas 15, 040701 (2008)]. There it was found that, in many cases, the ground state appeared substantially less frequently than excited states. Here we analyze this question theoretically by means of molecular dynamics (MD) and Monte Carlo simulations and an analytical method based on the canonical partition function. We confirm that metastable states can occur with a significantly higher probability than the ground state. The results strongly depend on the screening parameter of the Yukawa interaction and the damping coefficient used in the MD simulations. The analytical method allows one to gain insight into the mechanisms being responsible for the occurrence probabilities of metastable states in strongly correlated finite systems.

Ion potential in warm dense matter: wake effects due to streaming degenerate electrons.

The effective dynamically screened potential of a classical ion in a stationary flowing quantum plasma at finite temperature is investigated. This is a key quantity for thermodynamics and transport of dense plasmas in the warm-dense-matter regime. This potential has been studied before within hydrodynamic approaches or based on the zero temperature Lindhard dielectric function. Here we extend the kinetic analysis by including the effects of finite temperature and of collisions based on the Mermin dielectric function. The resulting ion potential exhibits an oscillatory structure with attractive minima (wakes) and, thus, strongly deviates from the static Yukawa potential of equilibrium plasmas. This potential is analyzed in detail for high-density plasmas with values of the Brueckner parameter in the range 0.1≤r(s)≤1 for a broad range of plasma temperature and electron streaming velocity. It is shown that wake effects become weaker with increasing temperature of the electrons. Finally, we obtain the minimal electron streaming velocity for which attraction between ions occurs. This velocity turns out to be less than the electron Fermi velocity. Our results allow for reliable predictions of the strength of wake effects in nonequilibrium quantum plasmas with fast streaming electrons showing that these effects are crucial for transport under warm-dense-matter conditions, in particular for laser-matter interaction, electron-ion temperature equilibration, and stopping power.