Rydberg atom formation in strongly correlated ultracold plasmas
arXiv:1109.6456 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.84.052710
Abstract
In plasmas at very low temperatures formation of neutral atoms is dominated by collisional three-body recombination, owing to the strong ~ T^(-9/2) scaling of the corresponding recombination rate with the electron temperature T. While this law is well established at high temperatures, the unphysical divergence as T -> 0 clearly suggest a breakdown in the low-temperature regime. Here, we present a combined molecular dynamics-Monte-Carlo study of electron-ion recombination over a wide range of temperatures and densities. Our results reproduce the known behavior of the recombination rate at high temperatures, but reveal significant deviations with decreasing temperature. We discuss the fate of the kinetic bottleneck and resolve the divergence-problem as the plasma enters the ultracold, strongly coupled domain.
11 pages, 10 figures
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- Dissipative dynamics of atomic and molecular Rydberg gases: Avalanche to ultracold plasma states of strong coupling
- Influence of Electron Evaporative Cooling on Ultracold Plasma Expansion
- Heating and cooling of electrons in an ultracold neutral plasma using Rydberg atoms
- Steady-State Ultracold Plasma
- Creating Non-Maxwellian Velocity Distributions in Ultracold Plasmas
- Heating mechanisms in radio frequency driven ultracold plasmas
- Density dependence of the Ionization Avalanche in ultracold Rydberg gases
- What is the temperature of an ultra-cold Rydberg plasma?
- Expansion of an ultracold Rydberg plasma
- Many-body collision contributions to electron momentum damping rates in a plasma influenced by electron strong coupling
- A scalable theoretical mean-field model for the electron component of an ultracold neutral plasma
- Hollow Beam Optical Ponderomotive Trap for Ultracold Neutral Plasma
- The Effect of Magnetization on Electron Heating in Low-Density Ultracold Neutral Plasmas