Durniak, C

Plastic Deformations in Complex Plasmas

Complex plasmas are macroscopic model systems of real solids and liquids, used to study underdamped dynamics and wave phenomena. Plastic deformations of complex plasma crystals under slow uniaxial compression have been studied experimentally and numerically. It is shown that the lattice becomes locally sheared and that this strain is relaxed by shear slips resulting in global uniform compression and heat generation. Shear slips generate pairs of dislocations which move in opposite directions at subsonic speeds.