Grain surface temperature in noble gas discharges: Refined analytical model

A model of grain surface temperature in a low-pressure weakly ionized complex plasma is refined by taking into account the effect of rare ion-neutral collisions in the vicinity of the grain. These collisions enhance plasma collection by the grain and can result in a considerable increase of the grain temperature. It is shown that the collision enhanced plasma collection model yields generally better agreement with the results of existing experiments. The effect of the temperature difference between the grain surface and the surrounding gas on the grain-grain interaction potential is also briefly discussed. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.