Measurement of the ion drag force on free falling microspheres in a plasma

Experiments on the quantitative determination of the ion drag force on free-falling dust particles in a collisionless regime are presented. The ion drag forces are measured for ion energies up to 40 eV and the obtained results are compared in detail with theories. Good agreement is found with the Barnes model [Barnes , Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 313 (1992)] of the ion drag force for high ion energies (E>3 eV). At lower ion energies the model of Khrapak [Khrapak , Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 225002 (2003)] is found to give a better description of the capture of slowly streaming ions by highly charged particles. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.