Analysis of light scattering on particle ordered structure in a thermal plasma

The light scattering by liquidlike ordered structure of macroscopic particl es was experimentally observed in a classical neutral thermal plasma. Assum ing the kinematic approximation of diffraction theory, the pair correlation function can be retrieved from structure factor measurements. With this me thod we determine the correlation functions for masks imitating the grain s tructures in a dusty plasma and for the strongly coupled thermal plasma con sists of CeO2 particles under atmospheric pressure and temperature of 1800 K. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.