Structures and Dynamics of Two-Dimensional Dust Lattices with and without Coulomb Molecules in Plasmas

Structures and dynamics of two-dimensional dust lattices with and without Coulomb molecules in plasmas are investigated. The experimental results show that the lattices have the crystal-like hexagonal structures, i.e. most particles have six nearest-neighboring particles. However, the lattice points can be occupied by the individual particles or by a pair of particles called Coulomb molecules. The pair correlation function is used to compare the structures between the lattices with or without the Coulomb molecules. In the experiments, the Coulomb molecules can also decompose and recombine with another individual particle to form a new molecule.