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Electron screening and disorder-induced heating in ultracold neutral plasmas

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 velocity distribution. In this study we observe and characterize effects due to electron screening on the ions during the equilibration process.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BGMYU2/oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-3856
Date01 December 2011
CreatorsLyon, Mary Elizabeth
PublisherBYU ScholarsArchive
Source SetsBrigham Young University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceTheses and Dissertations
Rightshttp://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

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