Dust acoustic waves in a direct current glow discharge

An experimental investigation of dust acoustic (DA) waves in a de glow discharge plasma is described. The glow discharge is formed between a 3 cm anode disk and the grounded walls of a 60 cm diameter vacuum chamber which is filled with nitrogen gas at a pressure of about 100 mTorr. Dust located on a tray in the chamber is attracted into the plasma where it is trapped electrostatically. The dust acoustic waves were produced by applying a modulation signal (5-40 Hz) to the anode. The wavelength of the DA waves was measured from single frame video images of scattered light from the dust grains. The measured dispersion relation is compared with theoretical predictions. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.