Wiktionary
n. (context physics English) A plasma containing particles larger than the ions of the plasma; typically manufactured plastic micro-spheres.
Wikipedia
A dusty plasma is a plasma containing millimeter (10) to nanometer (10) sized particles suspended in it. Dust particles are charged and the plasma and particles behave as a plasma. Dust particles may form larger particles resulting in "grain plasmas". Due to the additional complexity of studying plasmas with charged dust particles, dusty plasmas are also known as Complex Plasmas.
Dusty plasmas are encountered in:
- Industrial processing plasmas
- Space plasmas
- The mesosphere of the Earth
- Specifically designed laboratory experiments
Dusty plasmas are interesting because the presence of particles significantly alters the charged particle equilibrium leading to different phenomena. It is a field of current research. Electrostatic coupling between the grains can vary over a wide range so that the states of the dusty plasma can change from weakly coupled (gaseous) to crystalline. Such plasmas are of interest as a non- Hamiltonian system of interacting particles and as a means to study generic fundamental physics of self-organization, pattern formation, phase transitions, and scaling.
Usage examples of "dusty plasma".
The sun had just set, and the alpenglow was so strong that it looked like she was standing in her own blood, as if she were a creature as small as a cell standing on the corroded wall of her heart, while around her swept the winds of her own dusty plasma.