Clusters of charged diamagnetic particles levitating in nonuniform magnetic field

S. F. Savin¹, L. G. D'yachkov², M. M. Vasiliev², O. F. Petrov² and V. E. Fortov²

¹  S.P. Korolev Rocket-Space Corporation “Energia” - Korolev, Russia
²  Joint Institute for High Temperatures, Russian Academy of Sciences - Moscow, 125412 Russia

Corresponding author: dyachk@mail.ru

Received: 16 October 2009
Accepted: 30 November 2009

Abstract

For confinement and investigation of strongly coupled systems of charged macroparticles, we propose to use a trap based on the known possibility of the levitation of diamagnetic bodies in a nonuniform steady-state magnetic field. An experimental setup is described, which is capable of forming and confining clusters of charge graphite particles sized 100 to 300 μm in magnetic field B ~ 1 T and  ~  10 T/cm. It is inferred that it will be possible to form stable 3D structures containing several thousands macroparticles under terrestrial conditions by using fields B > 10 T, and under microgravity conditions by using fields B ~ 0.1 T.