Filamentation in Capacitively Coupled Magnetized Plasmas

Recent experiments at the Magnetized Dusty Plasma Experiment (MDPX) at Auburn University have observed the formation of filamentary structures in capacitively-coupled, rf generated plasmas at high magnetic field (B ≥ 0.5 T) with distinct morphologies. For low neutral pressure (p ≤ 30 Pa), low RF power (P_RF ≤ 5 W) conditions used in these studies, the plasma filaments, when viewed from the side, appear as bright vertical columns aligned parallel to the magnetic field. And, when viewed from the top, they form distinct structures that that can either be stable or mobile. In this work, the MDPX device is used to study the threshold conditions for filamentation formation under various pressure and applied magnetic field conditions. The experiments discussed here have identified and characterized the morphology of several distinct filamentary modes that are formed in low temperature argon plasmas. This presentation will focus on how those properties of the filaments compare with fundamental length scales in the plasmas (ion/electron gyroradii, collision mean free path, Debye length, etc.).