Nonlinear dust acoustic waves and shocks

We describe experiments on (1) nonlinear dust acoustic waves and (2) dust acoustic shocks performed in a direct current (DC) glow discharge dusty plasma. First, we describe experiments showing nonlinear dust acoustic waves characterized by waveforms of the dust density that are typically sharper in the wave crests and flatter in the wave troughs (compared to sinusoidal waves), indicating the development of wave harmonics. We discuss this behavior in terms of a second-order fluid theory for dust acoustic waves. Second, experimental observations of the propagation and steepening of large-amplitude dust acoustic waves into dust acoustic shock waves are presented. The observed shock wave evolution is compared with numerical calculations based on the Riemann solution of the fully nonlinear fluid equations for dust acoustic waves. VC 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3693972]