Stable dust structures in non-self-sustained gas discharge under atmospheric pressure

The formation of stable dust structures in electron-beam-controlled non-self-sustained discharge plasma was predicted and experimentally observed. To determine the conditions for dust-particle levitation, the self-consisted one-dimensional simulation of a non-self-sustained gas discharge was carried out using a nonlocal model of charged plasma-particle transport with allowance for electron diffusion. It is shown that, in the cathode layer of a non-self-sustained gas discharge, a strong electric field arises in the Thomson regime, which, in conjunction with the gravity force, forms a potential well where the dust particles undergo levitation.