International Microgravity Plasma Facility John Goree The University of Iowa

International Microgravity Plasma Facility plasma = electrons + ions What is a dusty plasma? Debye shielding small particle of solid matter becomes negatively charged absorbs electrons and ions

International Microgravity Plasma Facility Other names for Dusty Plasmas Complex plasmas (analogy to complex fluids) Fine-particle plasmas

International Microgravity Plasma Facility Solar system Rings of Saturn Comet tails Basic physics Coulomb crystals Waves Manufacturing Particle contamination (Si wafer processing) Nanomaterial synthesis Who cares about dusty plasmas?

International Microgravity Plasma Facility months data in 1999 Rapid Growth of this Scientific Field: Dusty plasma publications in APS & AIP journals

International Microgravity Plasma Facility polymer microspheres  8  m diameter Particles used in Basic Physics Experiments separation a  0.5 mm charge Q  e

International Microgravity Plasma Facility Forces Acting on a Particle Coulomb QE Other forces: Gas drag Ion drag Thermophoresis Radiation Pressure Gravity mg

International Microgravity Plasma Facility Electrostatic trapping of particles Equipotential contours electrode positive potential electrode With gravity, particles sediment to high-field region  2-D layer Without gravity, particles fill 3-D volume QE mg

International Microgravity Plasma Facility Gravity  severe sedimentation  on Earth, 2-D experiments only Microgravity enables 3-D experiments Need for microgravity

International Microgravity Plasma Facility International Advisory Board formed 2000 Pre-Development Phase B started DLR funds Phase A feasibility study History of IMPF 1999 Proposal to ESA by PI Greg Morfill result: one of six rated excellent

International Microgravity Plasma Facility 13 members 9 countries 7 meetings 5/99 - 5/01 International Advisory Board for IMPF

International Microgravity Plasma Facility Predecessor microgravity experiments Mir Russian “High Energy Density Research Center” Sounding rockets Morfill et al., PRL 1999

International Microgravity Plasma Facility Predecessor microgravity experiments PKE - Plasma Kristall Experiment Parabolic flight tests ISS Feb launch the 1 st physical sciences experiment on ISS PKE flight hardware with 1st & 3rd ISS crews

International Microgravity Plasma Facility PKE vacuum chamber Cameras for imaging particles Laser sheets for illuminating particles

International Microgravity Plasma Facility PKE Purpose: Study 3D dusty plasmas: –fundamental structure – dynamics of melting and freezing phase transitions Who: Germany: PI G. Morfill (Max- Planck Institute) Russia: High-Energy Density Research Center, Moscow NASA-funded co-I: John Goree (U. of Iowa)

International Microgravity Plasma Facility PKE timeline 2/26/01 Launched (Progress) 3/01 – 5/01 First experiments (40 hours) 10/01 Next series of experiments

International Microgravity Plasma Facility PKE Results particles Crystal beginning to anneal void

International Microgravity Plasma Facility PKE - Results Coalescence of two suspensions (A sequence of video frames is shown here, as the plasma power was decreased)

International Microgravity Plasma Facility Scope of IMPF Science Projects Basic science: Melting Self-organization Waves Shocks Defect dynamics Few-body systems much more... Applications: Particle coating Nanoscale mfg. Particle growth

International Microgravity Plasma Facility International AO Released Oct by NASA, ESA, NASDA, CSA For Physical Sciences PI’s to use ISS instruments belonging to other countries 117 proposals were received (U.S. + Europe + Japan + Canada) The top 3 proposals (according to scientific merit in the peer review process) were from IMPF users

International Microgravity Plasma Facility