1. Levitation of Microorganisms in the Sheath of an RF Plasma.
- Author
-
Sanpei, Akio, Kigami, Tomohito, Kanaya, Hiroki, Hayashi, Yasuaki, and Sampei, Mai
- Subjects
- *
BIOPHYSICS , *DUSTY plasmas , *PLASMA radiofrequency heating , *ESCHERICHIA coli , *PLASMA sheaths - Abstract
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]
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF