Dynamics of the ordered structure formation in a thermal dusty plasma

The dynamics of the ensemble of interacting dust grains under conditions of thermal plasma was studied, and the formation of the liquidlike structure observed in the experiment was investigated. The simulation results showed that ordering of the dust structure manifested in the experiment with thermal dusty plasmas can be explained by the electric interaction of dust grains. It is found that the structure obtained in the experiment is far from equilibrium because the plasma flight time is less than the time of structure formation. It conforms to the emergence of the experimental correlation function characterized by a sharp main peak with no high-order ones. It is shown through experimental measurements of the diffusion coefficient that the thermal energy of dust grains is close to the gas temperature, and the friction force acting on grains is determined via the expression obtained in the kinetic limit.