Viscoelasticity of 2D dusty plasmas

Summary form only given. In glow discharge plasmas, a suspension of dust particles can self-organize in a lattice structure, forming so called dusty plasma. The lattice structure is either solid or liquid-like, determined by plasma conditions. Depending on the lattice structure, viscoelasticity is the property of materials that exhibit both viscous and elastic characteristics. Most materials are viscoelastic; they both store and dissipate energy, with the relative proportions depending on frequency. So, the frequency-dependent viscosity, η(ω), is often used for the investigation of viscoelasticity. Besides η(ω), the wave vector dependent viscosity, η(k), is also used to study the viscoelastic character at different length scales. Motivated by two-dimensional (2D) dusty plasma experiments, we performed Langevin dynamical simulations to study the viscoelasticity of 2D dusty plasmas. In different conditions, both η(ω) and η(k) are calculated and compared.