Structure of Yukawa dusty plasma mixtures

Parameters characterizing the structure of a confined Yukawa system are est imated for "dusty plasmas," clouds of charged macroscopic particles formed near the boundary between a plasma and the sheath, and levitated by a negat ively biased electrode. When we have dust particles with different charge-t o-mass ratios, they form a two-dimensional Yukawa mixture or separate two-d imensional one-component Yukawa systems, depending on the charge density in the sheath and the number density of dust particles. Pointed out is the po ssibility that dust particles with a larger charge-to-mass ratio have layer ed structures in the domain of neutral plasma, being supported by those wit h a smaller charge-to-mass ratio in the domain of sheath. [S1063-651X(98)03 812-4].