Aerodynamic focusing of high-density aerosols

High-density micron-sized particle aerosols might form the basis for a number of applications in which a material target with a particular shape might be quickly ionized to form a cylindrical or sheet shaped plasma. A simple experimental device was built in order to study the properties of high-density aerosol focusing for 1. μm silica spheres. Preliminary results recover previous findings on aerodynamic focusing at low densities. At higher densities, it is demonstrated that the focusing properties change in a way which is consistent with a density dependent Stokes number. Highlights: •High-density aerosols are experimentally demonstrated to be focusable much like dilute aerosols.•The focusing, however, is density-dependent, with a density-dependent effective Stokes number.•The high-density aerosol may be a means to develop a plasma slab, a geometry difficult to achieve.