Localized excitations in dusty plasma crystals: on the interface among plasma physics and nonlinear lattice theories

Abstract

Introduction. Dusty plasma crystals (DPCs) are strongly-coupled charged particle configurations, which occur in dysty plasmas (DP) [1] when the average electrostatic potential energy substantially exceeds the mean kinetic energy. In laboratory, DPCs are formed in low-temperature plasma discharges, wherein the charged dust particles are suspended under the combined action of gravity and electric forces [2]. DPC configurations typically consist of two-dimensional (2D) -hexagonal in general -layers, but also one-(1D) chains, when appropriate trapping potentials are employed for lateral confinement [3]. Our aim here is to revisit the nonlinear aspects of dust grain motion in 1D and 2D DPCs, from first principles, by reviewing earlier analytical results [4] and presenting more recent ones [5,6].