Molecular-Dynamics Simulations of Dynamic Phenomena in Complex Plasmas

Complex plasmas consist of micrometer-sized spheres immersed into an ordinary ion-electron plasma. They exist in solid, liquid, and gaseous states, sustain particle-mediated waves, and exhibit a range of nonlinear and dynamic effects. Here, we present a numerical study of nonlinear-wave steepening (tsunami effect), interaction of solitons, and shock-wave propagation in monolayer complex plasmas. The simulated results are found to be in a good agreement with the experiments. It was also found that the simulation using a tenth-order confinement potential produced more homogeneous lattices with fewer defects than that with the conventional parabolic potential.