Role of the image force in charging of dust grains in complex plasmas

This paper presents an analytical study of the impact of image force on the kinetics of an irradiated complex plasma. The formulation is based on the average charge theory and includes both the number and energy balance of electrons/ions along with the charge neutrality condition. The dependence of reduction in the potential energy surface barrier (and work function) on the number density of dust particles has been investigated and its impact on the charging of dust grains and other physical plasma parameters has been discussed. An interesting conclusion is the fact that the image force consideration leads to larger magnitude of negative charge on the dust particles and the effective work function approaches the value for plane surface with increasing size and number density of dust grains.