Surface waves in a magnetized plasma with mobile dust grains

Wave propagation in a dusty, magnetized, strongly inhomogeneous plasma at frequencies below the ion-cyclotron frequency, and near the dust cyclotron frequency, is considered. The dust grains are assumed to carry a proportion of the negative charge of the plasma. Wave resonances and cutoffs in a homogeneous plasma are discussed. The dispersion relation for surface waves propagating on an interface between a dusty plasma and a vacuum is derived and studied, and their connection to surface waves in general two-ion-species plasmas is analyzed. The damping of the waves due to Alfven resonance absorption in a narrow but nonzero width interface is derived, and it is shown that for a range of frequencies above the dust cyclotron frequency the surface wave can propagate undamped by resonance absorption. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S1070-664X(98)02009-6].