Demixing in Binary Complex Plasma: Computer Simulation

Computer simulations are employed to investigate the phase separation (demixing) phenomenon induced by interaction nonadditivity in binary complex plasmas with two different sized microparticles. The system firstly coarsens, and small particles start gathering and forming small clusters inside the large-particle phase, while there are no clear boundaries between two species. Next, sharp interfaces build up while the small-particle clusters merge into droplets and small droplets continue to merge into big ones. Finally, the two species completely separate from each other, and the small particles tend to form big droplets of nearly spherical shape, due to the surface tension.