3-D Plasma Crystals in the lab and in space

The crystallisation of complex plasmas under microgravity conditions performed in the PKE-Nefedov laboratory on the ISS was restricted to a small area close to the sheath region at the electrodes. Now, it is possible to grow large crystals of different type (fcc, bcc etc.) by a special developed annealing procedure. The latter will be explained and the 3-D analysis of the resulting crystal will be presented. Even larger crystals of more than 100 particle distances ($\Delta $ = 0.1 mm) in every direction can be formed in the PK-3 Plus lab on Earth due to the usage of particles of $\sim $1$\mu $m diameter. PK-3 Plus is the follow-up experiment to PKE - Nefedov and will be launched to the ISS end of 2005. Beside the smaller particles PK-3 Plus provides larger electrodes and better plasma conditions also necessary for this large crystal formation. By depth scans of the usual 2-D particle diagnostics, we are able to study the crystallization process and phase transition in 3-D.