Affiliation:
1. Institute of Plasma Physics and Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Frontier Material Physics and Devices, School of Physical Science and Technology, Soochow University , Suzhou 215006, China
Abstract
Based on the statistical analysis of particles hopping outside the cages formed by their nearest neighboring particles, a new diagnostic of the hopping particle (HP) percentage is proposed to identify the solid–liquid phase transition in two-dimensional (2D) dusty plasmas. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the HP percentage, Langevin dynamical simulations of 2D Yukawa systems under various conditions are performed to mimic 2D dusty plasmas. It is found that the HP percentage exhibits a significant jump while decreasing the coupling parameter around the melting point, just corresponding to the solid–liquid phase transition. As compared with other traditionally used diagnostics, the HP percentage diagnostic is sensitive enough, and the dynamical information is incorporated inside. By comparing to the most widely used diagnostic of the bond-angular order parameter, the melting criterion of this HP percentage diagnostic is determined to be about 30% for the suitable time interval, which is general for the 2D Yukawa systems with different screening parameters.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Excellent Postdoctoral Program of Jiangsu Province
National Postdoctoral Researcher Support Program