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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Towards Stronger Coulomb Coupling In An Ultracold Neutral Plasma, Mary Elizabeth Lyon
Towards Stronger Coulomb Coupling In An Ultracold Neutral Plasma, Mary Elizabeth Lyon
Theses and Dissertations
Ultracold neutral plasmas are created by photoionizing laser-cooled atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). Due to their large electrical potential energies and comparatively small kinetic energies, ultracold plasmas fall into a regime of plasma systems which are called “strongly coupled.” A priority in the field of ultracold plasmas is to generate plasmas with higher values of the strong coupling parameter Γ, which is given as the ratio of the nearest-neighbor Coulomb potential energy to the average kinetic energy. The equilibrium strong coupling in ultracold plasmas is limited by the ultrafast relaxation of the ions due to spatial disorder in the …
Measurement Of Plasma Density In A Gas-Filled Ionizing Laser Focus, Nathan Edward Heilmann
Measurement Of Plasma Density In A Gas-Filled Ionizing Laser Focus, Nathan Edward Heilmann
Theses and Dissertations
We use an interferometric method for measuring the plasma density in a laser-induced plasma as a function of time. Any changes in the density within 5 ns of generation is due plasma expansion and not recombination. The analytic solution for plasma expansion derived for ultracold Neutral Plasmas describes the expansion of our laser produced Neon plasma of densities up to approximately 40 Torr. A model for the utlracold neutral plasmas, in comparison with measurements of our plasmas, can be used to extract an electron temperature. Currently our plasmas have shown to have an electron temperature of approximately 44 eV.
Electron Screening And Disorder-Induced Heating In Ultracold Neutral Plasmas, Mary Elizabeth Lyon
Electron Screening And Disorder-Induced Heating In Ultracold Neutral Plasmas, Mary Elizabeth Lyon
Theses and Dissertations
Disorder-induced heating (DIH) is a nonequilibrium, ultrafast relaxation process that occurs when laser-cooled atoms are photoionized to make an ultracold plasma. Its effects dominate the ion motion during the first 100 ns of the plasma evolution. Using tools of atomic physics we study DIH with ns time resolution for different plasma densities and temperatures. By changing the frequency of the laser beam we use to probe the ions, we map out the time evolution of the velocity distribution. We can compare this to a fluorescence simulation in order to more clearly determine the relationship between the fluorescence signal and the …
Early Dynamics Of Ultracold Neutral Plasmas, Adam W. Denning
Early Dynamics Of Ultracold Neutral Plasmas, Adam W. Denning
Theses and Dissertations
We report new studies on the early-time dynamics of ultracold neutral plasmas. We use fluorescence spectroscopy to probe plasma dynamics on the nanosecond time scale. We determine the rms ion velocity during the initial plasma period. The initial ion acceleration is found as the time derivative of the ion velocity. We compare to a theoretical model. The experimental results agree with the model at low plasma densities. However, the ion acceleration is a factor of ten lower than the model at higher densities. The cause of this discrepancy is currently unknown.
Two-Photon Ionization Of The Calcium 4s3d 1d2 Level In An Optical Dipole Trap, Jared Estus Daily
Two-Photon Ionization Of The Calcium 4s3d 1d2 Level In An Optical Dipole Trap, Jared Estus Daily
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis reports an optical dipole trap for atomic calcium. The dipole trap is loaded from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) of calcium atoms cooled near the Doppler limit (~1 mK). The dipole trap is formed by a large-frame argon ion laser focused to 20 microns into the center of the MOT. This laser runs single-line at 488 nm with a maximum power of 10.6 watts. These parameters result in a trap of 125 mK for calcium atoms in the 4s3d 1D2 state. The 488 nm light also photo-ionizes the trapped atoms due to a near-resonant transition to the 4s4f 1F3 …