[en] Dust is a challenge for the design and operation of equipment on the Martian surface, particularly for solar cells. An efficient and robust technique for removing dust and sand from surfaces immersed in CO₂ at low pressure is presented. The working principle is based on a pulsed plasma jet produced between two coaxial electrodes biased at voltages between 1 and 2 kV. A demonstration is presented using dust particles whose chemical composition mimic the Mars soil. An array of connected photovoltaic cells fully covered with dust and sand is exposed to the plasma jet. The cells open circuit voltage is monitored in real-time thus providing the means to measure the dust removal efficiency. A good cleaning efficiency is attained after a few shots in a geometry where the plasma jet is directed perpendicularly to the dusty surface. The main advantage of this approach lies in the opportunity to apply it directly at about 5 Torr, the pressure of the Martian environment. A numerical evaluation shows that the plasma drag force on a dust particle is orders of magnitude higher than its weight depending on plasma density and flow speed, hence validating the principles of this cleaning technique. (paper)

[en] We study the interaction of an intense short laser pulse (duration > 100 fs) with a helium gas jet (with a pressure from 1–80 bar) by performing two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The parameters of the existing setups at the CETAL PW facility are used in PIC simulations. The mechanisms of the relativistic laser channeling such as filamentary bifurcation, long-wavelength hosing, bifurcation due to long-wavelength hosing and refractive bifurcation are shown. We also findthe optimum parameters of the laser pulse and the helium gas jet for which electrons are accelerated in the direct laser acceleration regime. We obtained electrons with energies higher than 100 MeV and broad electron energy spectra features that are very useful for space irradiation simulations. (paper)

[en] The vertical precession of cylindrical dust particles levitated in the sheath of an rf plasma is experimentally investigated. Typically, the dust particles have two equilibrium positions depending on the orientation of their longitudinal axis: horizontal and vertical. A transition between these two states is induced by rapidly increasing the neutral gas pressure in the plasma chamber. During this transition, the cylindrical dust particles make an angle with the horizontal and rotate about their center of mass. The rotation speed increases as the dust rods aligned with the vertical axis. All dust particles will eventually end up in the vertical state while spinning fast about their longitudinal axis. Dust-dust interaction and the attracting ion wakes are possible mechanisms for inducing the observed dust precession

[en] It is demonstrated numerically that a 1-D plasma crystal made of micron size cylindrical dust particles can, in principle, work as a photonic crystal for terahertz waves. The dust rods are parallel to each other and arranged in a linear string forming a periodic structure of dielectric-plasma regions. The dispersion equation is found by solving the waves equation with the boundary conditions at the dust-plasma interface and taking into account the dielectric permittivity of the dust material and plasma. The wavelength of the electromagnetic waves is in the range of a few hundred microns, close to the interparticle separation distance. The band gaps of the 1-D plasma crystal are numerically found for different types of dust materials, separation distances between the dust rods and rod diameters. The distance between levitated dust rods forming a string in rf plasma is shown experimentally to vary over a relatively wide range, from 650 μm to about 1350 μm, depending on the rf power fed into the discharge

[en] Femtosecond laser pulses with λ = 800 nm were focused in air at one atmosphere and in deuterium (D) at low pressure. Submicron periodic structures were observed on surfaces made of Be, W and a mixture of Be-W immersed in these gases and placed nearly parallel with the laser beam, at 300 μm from the focal spot. In air, no structures were observed on Be. For the Be-W mixture, the periodic structures were uniform and parallel when formed in D but irregular in air. In this last case the striations were organized into small patches of 1 to 2 μm in size