Radiation pressure and gas drag forces on a melamine-formaldehyde microsphere in a dusty plasma

Measurements are reported for the radiation pressure and gas drag forces acting on a single melamine-formaldehyde microsphere. The radiation pressure force coefficient q, which would be unity if all incident photons were absorbed, has the value q=0.94±0.11. For argon, the Epstein gas drag force coefficient δ, which would be unity if impinging molecules underwent specular reflection, has the value δ=1.26±0.13 as measured with our single-particle laser acceleration method, or δ=1.44±0.19 as measured using the vertical resonance method.