Steady-State Ultracold Plasma

Abstract

A strongly coupled ultracold plasma can be used as an excellent test platform for studying many-body interactions associated with various plasma phenomena. In this paper we discuss an approach that makes possible creation of the steady-state ultracold plasma having various densities and temperatures by means of continuous two-step optical excitation of calcium atoms in the MOT. The parameters of the plasma are studied using laser-induced fluorescence of calcium ions. The experimental results are well described by a simple theoretical model involving equilibration of the continuous source of charged particles by the hydrodynamical ion outflux and three-body recombination. The strongly coupled plasma with the peak ion density of $6\cdot 10^5$ cm${}^{-3}$ and the minimum electron temperature near 2 K has been prepared. Our steady-state approach in combination with the strong magnetic confinement of the plasma will make it possible to reach extremely strong coupling in such system.

References in corpus (3)

• Ultracold Neutral Plasmas
• Improved ionization potential of calcium using frequency-comb based Rydberg spectroscopy
• Magnetic Confinement of an Ultracold Neutral Plasma

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Optical-field-induced dips and splits in nonlinear spectra of selective reflection from high-density atomic vapor
• Hollow Beam Optical Ponderomotive Trap for Ultracold Neutral Plasma