The propagation of the dust electro-acoustic (DEA) mode in dusty plasma wit
h different electron and ion temperatures T-e and T-i and different ion spe
cies is studied. The critical ratio of the dust space charge to the ion spa
ce charge epsilon for the excitation of DEA mode is found to decrease with
increasing T-e/T-i and increase with m(i)/m(e) (m(i) and m(e) are the ion a
nd electron masses). Thus experiments with hydrogen plasma where electrons
are sufficiently hotter than ions and where the reduction in the dust charg
e with epsilon is more than 50% are essential for the observation of self-s
hielding and the DEA mode. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.