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Interactions Of Electrons And Rydberg Atoms In Ultra-Cold Plasmas, Cristian Vesa
Interactions Of Electrons And Rydberg Atoms In Ultra-Cold Plasmas, Cristian Vesa
Honors Theses
This thesis discusses an experimental technique for investigating electron temperature control by Rydberg atoms in ultra-cold plasmas. The objective we set ourselves was twofold. Firstly, we sought to gain an insight into the processes whereby the creation of Rydberg atoms within the plasma lengthens the lifetime of the plasma. To this end, we created the plasma using a Littman dye laser and subsequently, at a variable time delay, we excited neutral atoms in the plasma to specific Rydberg states using a narrow bandwidth pulsed dye laser. Secondly, we employed radio-frequency (rf) electric fields to excite electron oscillations within the plasma …
Diode Lasers For Use In Experiments On Cold Rydberg Atoms, Bill Whitledge
Diode Lasers For Use In Experiments On Cold Rydberg Atoms, Bill Whitledge
Honors Theses
This project was to measure the atomic density of (85)Rb atoms in a magneto optical trap using a low-intensity probe laser. Additionally, a dark spontaneous force optical trap was constructed in an attempt to boost the trap density. The dark spot failed to appreciably increase the overall trap density (which remained steady at - N = 10^10 atoms/cm^3) but it did increase the density of dark-state atoms in the trap by an order of magnitude. This is a useful result since many experiments on cold Rydberg atoms involve exciting atoms starting in the ground state rather than the first excited …