Emergence of Kinetic Behavior in Streaming Ultracold Neutral Plasmas

We create streaming ultracold neutral plasmas by tailoring the photoionizing laser beam that creates the plasma. By varying the electron temperature, we control the relative velocity of the streaming populations, and, in conjunction with variation of the plasma density, this controls the ion collisionality of the colliding streams. Laser-induced fluorescence is used to map the spatially resolved density and velocity distribution function for the ions. We identify the lack of local thermal equilibrium and distinct populations of interpenetrating, counter-streaming ions as signatures of kinetic behavior. Experimental data is compared with results from a one-dimensional, two-fluid numerical simulation.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Ultracold Neutral Plasmas

Ultracold neutral plasmas are formed by photoionizing laser-cooled atoms near the ionization threshold. Through the application of atomic physics techniques and diagnostics, these experiments stretch the boundaries of traditional neutral plasma physics. The electron temperature in these plasmas ranges from 1-1000 K and the ion temperature is around 1 K. The density can approach $10^{11}$ cm$^{-3}$. Fundamental interest stems from the possibility of creating strongly-coupled plasmas, but recombination, collective modes, and thermalization in these systems have also been studied. Optical absorption images of a strontium plasma, using the Sr$^+$ ${^2S\_{1/2}} -> {^2P\_{1/2}}$ transition at 422 nm, depict the density profile of the plasma, and probe kinetics on a 50 ns time-scale. The Doppler-broadened ion absorption spectrum measures the ion velocity distribution, which gives an accurate measure of the ion dynamics in the first microsecond after photoionization.Comment: 12th International Congress on Plasma Physics, 25-29 October 2004, Nice (France

High Resolution Ionization of Ultracold Neutral Plasmas

Collective effects, such as waves and instabilities, are integral to our understanding of most plasma phenomena. We have been able to study these in ultracold neutral plasmas by shaping the initial density distribution through spatial modulation of the ionizing laser intensity. We describe a relay imaging system for the photoionization beam that allows us to create higher resolution features and its application to extend the observation of ion acoustic waves to shorter wavelengths. We also describe the formation of sculpted density profiles to create fast expansion of plasma into vacuum and streaming plasmas

Electron Temperature Evolution in Expanding Ultracold Neutral Plasmas

We have used the free expansion of ultracold neutral plasmas as a time-resolved probe of electron temperature. A combination of experimental measurements of the ion expansion velocity and numerical simulations characterize the crossover from an elastic-collision regime at low initial Gamma_e, which is dominated by adiabatic cooling of the electrons, to the regime of high Gamma_e in which inelastic processes drastically heat the electrons. We identify the time scales and relative contributions of various processes, and experimentally show the importance of radiative decay and disorder-induced electron heating for the first time in ultracold neutral plasmas

Experimental Realization of an Exact Solution to the Vlasov Equations for an Expanding Plasma

We study the expansion of ultracold neutral plasmas in the regime in which inelastic collisions are negligible. The plasma expands due to the thermal pressure of the electrons, and for an initial spherically symmetric Gaussian density profle, the expansion is self-similar. Measurements of the plasma size and ion kinetic energy using fluorescence imaging and spectroscopy show that the expansion follows an analytic solution of the Vlasov equations for an adiabatically expanding plasma.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Theory of the cold collision frequency shift in 1S--2S spectroscopy of Bose-Einstein-condensed and non-condensed hydrogen

We show that a correct formulation of the cold collision frequency shift for two photon spectroscopy of Bose-condensed and cold non-Bose-condensed hydrogen is consistent with experimental data. Our treatment includes transport and inhomogeneity into the theory of a non-condensed gas, which causes substantial changes in the cold collision frequency shift for the ordinary thermal gas, as a result of the very high frequency (3.9kHz) of transverse trap mode. For the condensed gas, we find substantial corrections arise from the inclusion of quasiparticles, whose number is very large because of the very low frequency (10.2Hz) of the longitudinal trap mode. These two effects together account for the apparent absence of a "factor of two" between the two possibilities. Our treatment considers only the Doppler-free measurements, but could be extended to Doppler-sensitive measurements. For Bose-condensed hydrogen, we predict a characteristic "foot" extending into higher detunings than can arise from the condensate alone, as a result of a correct treatment of the statistics of thermal quasiparticles.Comment: 16 page J Phys B format plus 6 postscript figure

Mass scaling and non-adiabatic effects in photoassociation spectroscopy of ultracold strontium atoms

We report photoassociation spectroscopy of ultracold $^{86}$Sr atoms near the intercombination line and provide theoretical models to describe the obtained bound state energies. We show that using only the molecular states correlating with the $^1S_0$$+$$^3P_1$ asymptote is insufficient to provide a mass scaled theoretical model that would reproduce the bound state energies for all isotopes investigated to date: $^{84}$Sr, $^{86}$Sr and $^{88}$Sr. We attribute that to the recently discovered avoided crossing between the $^1S_0$$+$$^3P_1$ $0_u^+$ ($^3\Pi_u$) and $^1S_0$$+$$^1D_2$ $0_u^+$ ($^1\Sigma^+_u$) potential curves at short range and we build a mass scaled interaction model that quantitatively reproduces the available $0_u^+$ and $1_u$ bound state energies for the three stable bosonic isotopes. We also provide isotope-specific two-channel models that incorporate the rotational (Coriolis) mixing between the $0_u^+$ and $1_u$ curves which, while not mass scaled, are capable of quantitatively describing the vibrational splittings observed in experiment. We find that the use of state-of-the-art ab initio potential curves significantly improves the quantitative description of the Coriolis mixing between the two -8 GHz bound states in $^{88}$Sr over the previously used model potentials. We show that one of the recently reported energy levels in $^{84}$Sr does not follow the long range bound state series and theorize on the possible causes. Finally, we give the Coriolis mixing angles and linear Zeeman coefficients for all of the photoassociation lines. The long range van der Waals coefficients $C_6(0_u^+)=3868(50)$~a.u. and $C_6(1_u)=4085(50)$~a.u. are reported.Comment: 14 pages, 7 tables, 5 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.