Statistics for motion of microparticles in a plasma

Abstract

To Asim and Chitra Mukhopadhyay ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor Dr. John Goree for his guidance and teaching, and above all, his patience to help me with my Graduate research. He has already been a great guide to my professional career as well, and I hope I can remember and use his teachings in my future work.ABSTRACT I report experimental and numerical studies of microparticle motion in a dusty plasma. These microparticles are negatively charged and are levitated in a plasma consisting of electrons, ions and neutral gas atoms. The microparticles repel each other, and are confined by the electric fields in the plasma. The neutral gas damps the microparticle motion, and also exerts random forces on them.