We report the experimental discovery of "electrorheological (ER) complex plasmas," where the control of the interparticle interaction by an externally applied electric field is due to distortion of the Debye spheres that surround microparticles (dust) in a plasma. We show that interactions in ER plasmas under weak ac fields are mathematically equivalent to those in conventional ER fluids. Microgravity experiments, as well as molecular dynamics simulations, show a phase transition from an isotropic to an anisotropic (string) plasma state as the electric field is increased.

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Heartbeat oscillations in complex plasmas with a broad range of fundamental frequencies are observed and studied. The experiments are performed with monodisperse microparticles of different diameters in argon as well as in neon plasmas. The oscillation frequency increases with increasing rf power and neutral gas pressure. At the lower frequencies, oscillations are strongly nonlinear. The microparticle pulsations, the variation of the electrical discharge parameters and the spatially resolved changes in the plasma glow are proven to be strongly correlated. Heartbeat oscillation dynamics is associated with global confinement modes.

The PK-3 Plus laboratory on board the International Space Station is used to study the interaction between metallic spheres and a complex plasma. We show that the metallic spheres significantly affect both the local plasma environment and the microparticle dynamics. The spheres charge under the influence of the plasma and repel the microparticles, forming cavities surrounding the spheres. The size of the cavity around a sphere is used to study the force balance acting on microparticles at the cavity edge. We show that the ion drag force and pressure force from other microparticles balances with the electric force acting from the sphere to within 20%. At intermediate distances from the sphere surface, the interaction between the microparticles and the metallic spheres is attractive due to the drag force stemming from the ions which are moving towards the highly charged spheres. The spheres thus strongly affect the plasma fluxes. This modification of the plasma flux can lead to an effective surface tension acting on the microparticles, and to the excitation of dust-density waves near the spheres, as the local electric field crosses a threshold.

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