Structure of 2D dusty plasmas in the presence of perpendicular ion flow

We perform Brownian Dynamics simulation to study the structure of two-dimensional dusty plasmas in the presence of a perpendicular ion flow. The effect of ion flow on the inter-particle potential is taken into account via a linear-dielectric-response formula. It is shown that the potential is repulsive for supersonic ion flows, giving rise to dust layer structures that are well modeled by a Yukawa potential. On the other hand, the inter-particle potential exhibits an attractive well for subsonic ion flows, resulting in the aggregation of dust particles into clusters with the size and structure that depend on both the coupling strength characterizing the dust layer and the screening length in the background plasma.