Levitated dust particles subjected to plasma jet

A dust crystal levitated in the sheath of a radio-frequency plasma is subjected to a pulsed plasma jet expelled from a minicoaxial gun. The dust particles, initially found at rest and self-organized in a 3-D structure, are dragged by the plasma jet for a short distance and come to rest when the action of the jet terminates. The trajectories of the microparticles are tracked in vertical and horizontal planes with a high-speed camera. From in situ observations of dust particle dynamics the dust acceleration is compared to numerical simulations.