Experimental observations of transverse shear waves in strongly coupled dusty plasmas

Phys Rev Lett. 2002 Apr 29;88(17):175001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.175001. Epub 2002 Apr 16.

Abstract

We report experimental observations of transverse shear waves in a three-dimensional dusty plasma that is in the strongly coupled fluid regime. These spontaneous oscillations occur when the ambient neutral pressure is reduced below a threshold value and the measured dispersion characteristics of these waves are found to be in good agreement with predictions of a viscoelastic theory of dusty plasmas.