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Levitation of pollen particles has been demonstrated in a radio frequency (RF) plasma. Pollen particles from Japanese cypress are levitated to various heights from lower electrode, where they spontaneously form quasi ordered state. Levitating pollen particles are identified from divinylbenzene particles in real-time using the polarization imaging technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A crystallike structure was successfully formed as a result of the levitation of a kind of bacillus microorganisms $Klebsiella ~pneumoniae$ in a radio frequency (RF) plasma. The crystallike structure was confirmed to be hexagonal from top-view photograph. Neutral gas friction cools the particles down to equilibrium positions. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) measurement suggests that RF plasma processes the surface of levitating microorganisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the levitation of micro-organisms in the sheath of radio-frequency (RF) plasma. Based on simple force-balance calculations, the required electric field for the levitation of micro-organisms has been estimated. It is predicted that micro-organisms could levitate at the periphery of the sheath. Experimental results demonstrate the levitation of two species of bacillus micro-organisms Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Klebsiella pneumoniae in an RF plasma. The almost monodiverse Klebsiella pneumoniae levitating in the RF plasma formed an ordered state similar to a 2-D Coulomb crystal. Diverse E. coli particles demonstrate the tendency that the levitating height of micro-organisms decreases as the radius of particles increases. Levitating micro-organisms in plasmas can be referred as dusty plasmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed a new Mie-scattering ellipsometry system for the analysis of the generation and transport of dusts in large plasma devices, such as nuclear fusion experiment devices. The system is a rotating-compensator type and consists of polarizer and analyzer modules and a 2-D image sensor. A preliminary experiment was carried out using a small dust plasma cubic chamber. Spherical divinylbenzene polymer particles of 2.25~\pm ~0.05~\mu \textm in diameter with a dispersion degree of 0.1 \mu \textm were injected and suspended in an argon plasma. Light intensity data for 1600 pixels on each image taken 30 times per second were summed as a function of compensator azimuth angle, and then, ellipsometric parameters $\Psi $ and $\Delta $ were determined through Fourier analysis and relational equations. By the comparison of the determined $\Psi $ and $\Delta $ values with the calculated ones based on the Mie theory, it can be stated that they agree fairly well with each other and the measurement method is reliable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The initial result of 3-D reconstruction of dusty plasma obtained through the integral photography technique has been reported. Integral photography has been applied to observe fine particles floating in a horizontally parallel-plate radio-frequency plasma. By using a simple system with a lens array and a standard charge-coupled device camera, we can identify the 3-D position of dust particles from a single exposure image obtained from one viewing port. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A hot helical structure in low-aspect-ratio (A) reversed field pinch (RFP) is obtained with the soft X-ray (SXR) imaging technique. Tangential SXR imaging camera and high-speed camera system is applied to low-A RFP for studying quasi-single-helicity RFP state. The helical structure correlated with m = 1/n = 4 tearing mode is identified by means of a subtraction technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]