Diagnostics of void expansion during cyclic growth and formation of layered nanoparticle clouds

Nanoparticles were grown in an argon-acetylene plasma, and the particle size was characterized during growth using imaging Mie ellipsometry (I-Mie). The typical cyclic growth was observed, and the previously reported expansion and contraction of the void before depletion of nanoparticles [van de Wetering et al., J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48, 035204 (2015)] was independently confirmed in our measurements. The cyclic growth was interrupted by repetitively turning the acetylene flow on and off. The nanoparticles that were confined in the discharge proceeded to grow slowly but more importantly a new growth cycle started with nucleation and growth taking place in the void region. The additional growth burst in the void region leads to a structured dust cloud with regions of nanoparticles with different sizes that were sharply separated. The advantages of using the I-Mie diagnostics for the observation of nanoparticles compared to standard video microscopy are demonstrated for the structured dust cloud. The results are discussed in relation to the growth processes for nucleation and coagulation.