Description
The future complex plasma facility COMPACT [1] will allow the investigation of large three-dimensional complex plasmas under microgravity conditions aboard a space station. COMPACT is a project with international scientific contributions, supported by space agencies (DLR, NASA, ESA) and NSF.
Camera-based observation of dust particles is the most important diagnostic for complex plasma experiments. So far, however, measuring their three-dimensional positions has not been possible in low Earth orbit.
For COMPACT a sophisticated optical system is foreseen, including 2D and 3D diagnostics. This system consists of the camera setup, the recording hardware and software as well as the evaluation software (e. g. [2]). We will present concepts/design for the camera setup as well as concepts for the evaluation.
This work was and is funded by DLR/BMWi (FKZ 50WM2161, 50WM2561).
[1] C. A. Knapek et al., Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion, DOI: 10.1088/1361-6587/ac9ff0
[2] D. P. Mohr et al., J. Imaging, DOI: 10.3390/jimaging5020030