Measurement of the ion drag force in a collisionless plasma with strong ion-grain coupling.

The ion drag force acting on dust grains was measured experimentally in a low-pressure Ar plasma in the regime of strong ion-grain coupling. Argon ions were drifting in the axial ambipolar electric field naturally present in a hot-filament dc discharge plasma. Following the method of Hirt et al. [Phys. Plasmas 11, 5690 (2004)], hollow glass microspheres were dropped into the plasma and allowed to fall due to gravity. The ion drag force was derived from the particle trajectory deflection from the vertical direction. The result is in reasonable agreement with a theoretical model that takes strong ion-grain coupling into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]