Fluid phase separation in binary complex plasmas

Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics - 85741 Garching, Germany, EU

Corresponding author: ivlev@mpe.mpg.de

Received: 2 December 2008
Accepted: 29 January 2009

Abstract

We show that the asymmetry in the interactions between particles of different sizes stimulates a fluid phase separation in binary complex plasmas. This remarkable property is revealed irrespective of the particular form of the interaction potential. The regime of the spinodal decomposition is easily achievable for typical experimental conditions, which suggests that binary complex plasmas could be an ideal model system to study atomistic dynamics accompanying fluid phase transitions and associated phenomena, such as surface tension effects, critical behavior, etc.