Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 31, 2026

An Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Setup to Investigate the Reactive Species Formation
Published on: November 3, 2016
Pattern formation in a complex plasma in high magnetic fields
M Schwabe1, U Konopka, P Bandyopadhyay
1Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, D-85748 Garching, Germany. schwabe@mpe.mpg.de
Abstract:
Low-pressure room-temperature neon, argon, krypton, and air plasmas were studied in magnetic fields up to flux densities of 2.3 T. Filaments appeared parallel to the magnetic field lines, and patterns such as spirals and concentric circles formed in the perpendicular direction. We link these effects to the magnetization of the ions. We also used a layer of embedded microparticles as probes in the plasma. Their motion changed dramatically from a collective rotation of the whole ensemble in moderate magnetic fields to a rotation in several small vortices centered at the filaments.
Related Concept Videos
Magnetic Fields
A magnetic field is defined by the force that a charged particle experiences...
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Relaxation Processes
Motion Of A Charged Particle In A Magnetic Field
Magnetic Field due to Moving Charges
Consider a point charge moving with a constant velocity. Like the electric field, the magnetic field at any point is directly proportional to the magnitude of the charge and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the source point and the field point. However, unlike the electric field, the magnetic field is always perpendicular to the plane containing the line...
Potential Due to a Magnetized Object
The vector...
Plane Electromagnetic Waves II

