P3M simulations of dusty plasmas

In this paper a review of the work on particle simulations of dusty plasmas using a three-dimensional Particle-Particle Particle-Mesh (P³M) code is presented. The code is applied to study the charging process of micrometre size dust grains confined in low temperature plasmas. This code gives a full-scale self-consistent kinetic description of both the background plasma and the charging of the dust particle. Particles (electrons and ions) are treated kinetically (Particle-in-Cell with Monte Carlo Collisions (PIC-MCC)), which allows us to self-consistently resolve the electrostatic sheath in front of the material wall. In order to accurately resolve the plasma particles' motion close to the dust grain, the PIC technique is supplemented with molecular dynamics (MD), employing the Coulomb potential for the interaction with the dust grain. The plasma particle trajectories are accurately followed in the close vicinity of the dust grain and by this finite-size effects for dust grains are included. Dust grain charging due to absorption of plasma particles and ion drag forces arising from momentum transfer of flowing ions to dust grains are studied.