One-dimensional nonlinear self-organized structures in dusty plasmas

Dusty plasmas, which are open systems, can form stable one-dimensional self-organized structures. Absorption of plasma by dust particles results in the plasma flux from the plasma regions where the dust is absent. It is found that, in a one-dimensional dust layer, this flux is completely determined by the number of dust particles per unit area of the layer surface. This number determines all of the other parameters of the steady-state dust structure; in particular, it determines the spatial distributions of the dust density, dust charge, electron and ion densities, and ion drift velocity. In these structures, a force and electrostatic balance is established that ensures the necessary conditions for confining the dust and plasma particles in the structure. The equilibrium structures exist only for subthermal ion flow velocities. This criterion determines the maximum possible number of dust particles per unit area in the steady-state structure. The structures have a universal thickness, and the dust density changes sharply at the edge of the structure. The structures with a size either less than or larger than the ion mean free path with respect to ion-neutral collisions, quasi-neutral and charged structures, and soliton-and anti-soliton-like structures are investigated. Laboratory experiments and observations in extraterrestrial plasma formation are discussed in relation to dust structures.     

Complex plasmas IV: Theoretical approaches to complex plasmas and their application

This paper completes a series of reviews devoted to the physics of complex plasmas, in which one of the components (dust) is in a crystalline or liquid state, while the others (electron, ions, and neutral atoms) are in a gaseous state. This review is devoted to the theoretical approaches used to describe complex plasmas so far. The main theoretical developments have been concentrated in the gaseous and weakly nonideal states of complex plasmas. Here, we describe the achievements in the new kinetic and new hydrodynamic approaches to complex plasmas. At present, only generalizations of the van der Waals approach for complex plasmas have been used to describe phase transitions and plasma condensation in complex plasmas. Here, criteria for transitions are described and compared with the existing experimental observations. Theoretical and numerical results for nonlinear structures, such as dust layers, dust voids, dust sheaths, and dust convective vortices, obtained by solving the stationary balance equations, are also discussed and compared with state-of-the-art experiments. At present, experiments in this field are progressing very fast, while theory is not advancing at the same rate of development. To further develop new theoretical models, one can use the elementary physical processes in complex plasmas described in the previous parts of the review. However, the detailed comparison of theory and experiments also needs more detailed experimental diagnostics of the phenomena observed. In the concluding part of our review, the trends in experiment and theory, as well as some existing applications, including industrial, environmental, and astrophysical ones, are described.     

Acyclic analogs of dideoxydidehydronucleosides

A new type of acyclic nucleoside analogs is proposed, containing C5 hydroxyalkyl fragments, where the distance between 5'-hydroxyl group and the heterocyclic moiety corresponds to that in dideoxydidehydronucleosides (as confirmed by computer modelling). Condensation between 5-0-acetyl-1-bromo-2-pentene and persilylated heterocyclic bases (pyrimidines and guanine) or adenine sodium salt gives rise to the acyclic nucleosides (5a-d, 6a-d) with the yields ranging from 40% up to 85%. Deprotection by NH3/MeOH results in the desired nucleosides (1a-d, 2a-d) formation.     

The therapeutic properties of an alcohol extract of plasma in a combined radiation-thermal lesion

The intravenous injection of an alcoholic plasma extract to mice after the combined exposure to radiation and heat decreases lethality, restores the investigation-and-orientation activities and oxygen consumption, favors the growth of body mass and healing of burns. The antioxidant effect of the extract manifests itself by the decreased rate of formation of lipid peroxidation products in the liver and the suppressed spontaneous and latex-induced chemiluminescence of neutrophils.     

Ionization instability and dusty plasma structurization

In the presence of ionization processes, a homogeneous equilibrium dust distribution often appears as a balance between plasma generation by ionization and plasma absorption by dust particles. It is shown that such equilibrium, often present in laboratory plasmas, is generally unstable against the formation of dust clumps separated by dust-free regions (dust voids). The driving force that separates an initially homogeneous dusty plasma into dust clumps and dust voids is the drag force produced by ions flowing out from the regions with reduced dust density. The lower the dust density, the lower the electron absorption by dust particles and the larger the ionization rate proportional to the electron density. An increase in the ion drag force leads to a further decrease in the dust density and, thus, drives the instability. In the nonlinear stage, the instability creates structures—dust clouds separated by dust voids. The dependence of the instability growth rate on the wavenumber (or, in other words, on the size of the dust-free and dust-containing regions) is investigated. It is shown that, for sufficiently small wavenumbers, a homogeneous distribution is always unstable. An analogy with a gravitational-like instability related to shadowing of the plasma flux by dust particles is pointed out. This effect, which is due to collective shadowing of the plasma flux, dominates the shadowing by individual dust particles discussed previously. Similar to the usual gravitational instability, perturbations with the largest scales are always unstable. Contrary to the usual gravitational instability, the largest growth rate corresponds not to the largest possible scale but to the size close to the mean free path of plasma particles colliding with dust particles. A special investigation is undertaken to determine the influence of the ion-neutral collisions on the growth rate of the instability.     

Collective attraction of equal-sign charged grains in plasmas

It is shown that, in the presence of many grains embedded in a plasma, any two grains with the same charge sign can attract each other. The attraction is caused by collective effects. Both the strength of attraction and the distance at which the attraction is located depend on the average dust density. In the limit of strong collective interaction, the potential energy of interaction is found to be equal to the Coulomb interaction with an amplitude periodically changing its sign at a sequence of interdust distances. The condition for collective effects to dominate lead to a threshold condition that is fulfilled in existing experiments. The effect of collective attraction is applied for the physical interpretation of the observed phenomenon of the formation of dust crystals in laboratory experiments.