Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 3194–3197 (1999)Transition from Attractive to Repulsive Forces between Dust Molecules in a Plasma SheathReceived 26 March 1999; published in the issue dated 18 October 1999 The electrostatic interaction of a system of two single dust particles in a plasma-sheath environment with flowing ions has been investigated quantitatively. It is shown that attractive net “binding” forces between the negatively charged particles exist, leading to the formation of a dust molecule. By laser manipulation of the dust particles, it is demonstrated that the attraction is asymmetric in such a way that it acts only on one of the particles. Moreover, the net forces between the particles can be reversibly changed between attraction and repulsion. © 1999 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.3194
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.3194
PACS:
52.25.Zb, 52.25.Vy, 52.35.Qz
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