2D Melting of Plasma Crystals: Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium Regimes

Journal Article · Fri Jul 03 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.103.015001· OSTI ID:21347023

Nosenko, V; Zhdanov, S K; Ivlev, A V; Knapek, C A; Morfill, G E ^[1]

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1. Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, 85741 Garching (Germany)

Comprehensive experimental investigations of melting in two-dimensional complex plasmas were carried out. Different experiments were performed in steady and unsteady heating regimes. We demonstrate an Arrhenius dependence of the defect concentration on the kinetic temperature in steady-state experiments, and show the evidence of metastable quenching in unsteady experiments, where the defect concentration follows a power-law temperature scaling. In all experiments, independent indicators suggest a grain-boundary-induced melting scenario.

• OSTI ID: 21347023
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.015001; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CRYSTALS
EQUILIBRIUM
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
HEATING
MELTING
PLASMA
STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
MICROSTRUCTURE
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS