We study the evolution of ultracold plasmas by measuring the electron temperature. Shortly after plasma formation, competition between heating and cooling mechanisms drives the electron temperature to a value within a narrow range regardless of the initial energy imparted to the electrons. In agreement with theory predictions, plasmas exhibit values of the Coulomb coupling parameter $Γ$ less than 1.
The cross section of dipole-magnetic photodisintegration of the negative hydrogen ion has been calculated within the framework of an effective-range theory. The dipole-magnetic cross section of photodetachment within the very narrow range of energy near the process threshold dominates over the dipole-electric one. It has been shown that in ultracold hydrogen plasma at temperatures below kT=3.29.10-4 K the dipole-magnetic photo-recombination becomes a main mechanism of electron capture by hydrogen atoms.
Recent experiments have demonstrated the spontaneous evolution of a gas of ultracold Rydberg atoms into an expanding ultracold plasma, as well as the reverse process of plasma recombination into highly excited atomic states. Treating the evolution of the plasma on the basis of kinetic equations, while ionization/excitation and recombination are incorporated using rate equations, we have investigated theoretically the Rydberg-to-plasma transition. Including the influence of spatial correlations on the plasma dynamics in an approximate way we find that ionic correlations change the results only …
We report the observation of plasma oscillations in an ultracold neutral plasma. With this collective mode we probe the electron density distribution and study the expansion of the plasma as a function of time. For classical plasma conditions, i.e. weak Coulomb coupling, the expansion is dominated by the pressure of the electron gas and is described by a hydrodynamic model. Discrepancies between the model and observations at low temperature and high density may be due to strong coupling of the electrons.
We present the first measurements and simulations of recombination fluorescence in ultracold neutral plasmas. In contrast with previous work, experiment and simulation are in significant disagreement. Comparison with a recombination model suggests that the disagreement could be due to the high energy portion of the electron energy distribution or to large energy changes in electron/Rydberg scattering. Recombination fluorescence opens a new diagnostic window in ultracold plasmas because it probes the deeply-bound Rydberg levels, which depend critically on electron energetics.
We have experimentally demonstrated both heating and cooling of electrons in an ultracold neutral plasma (UNP) by embedding Rydberg atoms into the plasma soon after its creation. We have determined the relationship between the initial electron temperature, $T_{e,i}$, and the binding energy of the added Rydberg atoms, $E_b$, at the crossover between heating and cooling behaviors (that is, the binding energy of the atoms, which, when they are added to the plasma, neither accelerate or slow down the plasma expansion). Specifically, this condition is $|E_b| \approx 2.7 \times k_B T_{e,i}$ when the…
We photoionize laser-cooled atoms with a laser beam possessing spatially periodic intensity modulations to create ultracold neutral plasmas with controlled density perturbations. Laser-induced fluorescence imaging reveals that the density perturbations oscillate in space and time, and the dispersion relation of the oscillations matches that of ion acoustic waves, which are long-wavelength, electrostatic, density waves.
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 st…
We extend an isothermal thermal model of ultracold neutral plasma expansion to systems without spherical symmetry, and use this model to interpret new fluorescence measurements on these plasmas. By assuming a self-similar expansion, it is possible to solve the fluid equations analytically and to include velocity effects to predict the fluorescence signals. In spite of the simplicity of this approach, the model reproduces the major features of the experimental data.
Three-body recombination, an important collisional process in plasmas, increases dramatically at low electron temperatures, with an accepted scaling of T_e^-9/2. We measure three-body recombination in an ultracold neutral xenon plasma by detecting recombination-created Rydberg atoms using a microwave-ionization technique. With the accepted theory (expected to be applicable for weakly-coupled plasmas) and our measured rates we extract the plasma temperatures, which are in reasonable agreement with previous measurements early in the plasma lifetime. The resulting electron temperatures indicate t…
We report new measurements and simulations of laser-induced fluorescence in ultracold neutral plasmas. We focus on the earliest times, when the plasma equilibrium is evolving and before the plasma expands. In the simulation, the ions interact via the Yukawa potential in a small cell with wrapped boundary conditions. We solve the optical Bloch equation for each ion in the simulation as a function of time. Both the simulation and experiment show the initial Bloch vector rotation, disorder-induced heating, and coherent oscillation of the rms ion velocity. Detailed modeling of the fluorescence sig…
We excite ion acoustic waves in ultracold neutral plasmas by imprinting density modulations during plasma creation. Laser-induced fluorescence is used to observe the density and velocity perturbations created by the waves. The effect of expansion of the plasma on the evolution of the wave amplitude is described by treating the wave action as an adiabatic invariant. After accounting for this effect, we determine that the waves are weakly damped, but the damping is significantly faster than expected for Landau damping.
Ultracold plasmas are formed by photo-exciting clouds of cold atoms and molecules near the ionization threshold. They explore a new region of plasma physics and display effects of strong coupling, which is characterized by a ratio of Coulomb energy to kinetic energy that is greater than unity. Collisions of many types play a role in the creation, equilibration, and expansion of these systems.
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 e…
Absorption imaging and spectroscopy can probe the dynamics of an ultracold neutral plasma during the first few microseconds after its creation. Quantitative analysis of the data, however, is complicated by the inhomogeneous density distribution, expansion of the plasma, and possible lack of global thermal equilibrium for the ions. In this article we describe methods for addressing these issues. Using simple assumptions about the underlying temperature distribution and ion motion, the Doppler-broadened absorption spectrum obtained from plasma images can be related to the average temperature in …
A kinetic approach for the evolution of ultracold neutral plasmas including interionic correlations and the treatment of ionization/excitation and recombination/deexcitation by rate equations is described in detail. To assess the reliability of the approximations inherent in the kinetic model, we have developed a hybrid molecular dynamics method. Comparison of the results reveals that the kinetic model describes the atomic and ionic observables of the ultracold plasma surprisingly well, confirming our earlier findings concerning the role of ion-ion correlations [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 68}, 010703].…
We report the creation of an ultracold neutral plasma by photoionization of laser-cooled xenon atoms. The charge carrier density is as high as 2 x 10^9 cm^-3, and the temperatures of electrons and ions are as low as 100 mK and 10 uK, respectively. Plasma behavior is evident in the trapping of electrons by the positive ion cloud when the Debye screening length becomes smaller than the size of the sample. We produce plasmas with parameters such that both electrons and ions are strongly coupled.
We demonstrate magnetic confinement of an ultracold neutral plasma (UCNP) created at the null of a biconic cusp, or quadrupole magnetic field. Initially, the UCNP expands due to electron thermal pressure. As the plasma encounters stronger fields, expansion slows and the density distribution molds to the field. UCNP electrons are strongly magnetized over most of the plasma, while ion magnetization is only significant at the boundaries. Observations suggest that electrons and ions are predominantly trapped by magnetic mirroring and ambipolar electric fields respectively. Confinement times approa…
We describe a hybrid molecular dynamics approach for the description of ultracold neutral plasmas, based on an adiabatic treatment of the electron gas and a full molecular dynamics simulation of the ions, which allows us to follow the long-time evolution of the plasma including the effect of the strongly coupled ion motion. The plasma shows a rather complex relaxation behavior, connected with temporal as well as spatial oscillations of the ion temperature. Furthermore, additional laser cooling of the ions during the plasma evolution drastically modifies the expansion dynamics, so that crystall…
We report optical absorption imaging of ultracold neutral plasmas.Images are used to measure the ion absorption spectrum, which is Doppler-broadened. Through the spectral width, we monitor ion equilibration in the first 250ns after plasma formation. The equilibration leaves ions on the border between the weakly coupled gaseous and strongly coupled liquid states. On a longer timescale of microseconds, we observe radial acceleration of ions resulting from pressure exerted by the trapped electron gas.
We present the first large-scale simulations of an ultracold, neutral plasma, produced by photoionization of laser-cooled xenon atoms, from creation to initial expansion, using classical molecular dynamics methods with open boundary conditions. We reproduce many of the experimental findings such as the trapping efficiency of electrons with increased ion number, a minimum electron temperature achieved on approach to the photoionization threshold, and recombination into Rydberg states of anomalously-low principal quantum number. In addition, many of these effects establish themselves very early …
Recent experiments with ultracold neutral plasmas show an intrinsic heating effect based on the development of spatial correlations. We investigate whether this effect can be reversed, so that imposing strong spatial correlations could in fact lead to cooling of the ions. We find that cooling is indeed possible. It requires, however, a very precise preparation of the initial state. Quantum mechanical zero-point motion sets a lower limit for ion cooling.
We present techniques to perturb, measure and model the ion velocity distribution in an ultracold neutral plasma produced by photoionization of strontium atoms. By optical pumping with circularly polarized light we promote ions with certain velocities to a different spin ground state, and probe the resulting perturbed velocity distribution through laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. We discuss various approaches to extract the velocity distribution from our measured spectra, and assess their quality through comparisons with molecular dynamic simulations
The results of a theoretical investigation of an ultracold, neutral plasma composed of equal mass positive and negative charges are reported. In our simulations, the plasma is created by the fast dissociation of a neutral particle. The temperature of the plasma is controlled by the relative energy of the dissociation. We studied the early time evolution of this system where the initial energy was tuned so that the plasma is formed in the strongly coupled regime. In particular, we present results on the temperature evolution and three body recombination. In the weakly coupled regime, we studied…
While ion heating by elastic electron-ion collisions may be neglected for a description of the evolution of freely expanding ultracold neutral plasmas, the situation is different in scenarios where the ions are laser-cooled during the system evolution. We show that electron-ion collisions in laser-cooled plasmas influence the ionic temperature, decreasing the degree of correlation obtainable in such systems. However, taking into account the collisions increases the ion temperature much less than what would be estimated based on static plasma clouds neglecting the plasma expansion. The latter l…
Electrons in an expanding ultracold plasma are expected to be in quasi-equilibrium, since the collision times are short compared to the plasma lifetime, yet we observe electrons evaporating out as the ion density decreases during expansion. We observe that a small electric field that shifts the electron cloud with respect to the ions increases the evaporation rate. We have calculated the spatial distribution of a zero-temperature electron cloud as a function of applied field and ion density, which is assumed to be Gaussian at all times. This calculation allows us to predict the flux of cold el…
We characterize the two-photon excitation of an ultracold gas of Rubidium atoms to Rydberg states analysing the induced atomic losses from an optical dipole trap. Extending the duration of the Rydberg excitation to several ms, the ground state atoms are continuously coupled to the formed positively charged plasma. In this regime we measure the $n$-dependence of the blockade effect and we characterise the interaction of the excited states and the ground state with the plasma. We also investigate the influence of the quasi-electrostatic trapping potential on the system, confirming the validity o…
We discuss a theoretical interpretation of the experiment by Fletcher, Zhang, and Rolston [PRL, 96, 105003 (2006)], who revealed a number of subharmonics of the electron emission under external irradiation of the freely-expanding clouds of ultracold plasmas. The original interpretation of these subharmonics as standing waves of plasma oscillations (the so-called Tonks-Dattner resonances) encounters a number of problems, such as the lack of adequate boundary conditions and incorrect dependence on the plasma temperature and the degree of neutrality. It is the aim of the present comment to mentio…
We propose and analyze a new scheme to produce ultracold neutral plasmas deep in the strongly coupled regime. The method exploits the interaction blockade between cold atoms excited to high-lying Rydberg states and therefore does not require substantial extensions of current ultracold plasma experiments. Extensive simulations reveal a universal behavior of the resulting Coulomb coupling parameter, providing a direct connection between the physics of strongly correlated Rydberg gases and ultracold plasmas. The approach is shown to reduce currently accessible temperatures by more than an order o…
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 …
Several mechanisms by which an external electromagnetic field influences the temperature of a plasma are studied analytically and specialized to the system of an ultracold plasma (UCP) driven by a uniform radio frequency (RF) field. Heating through collisional absorption is reviewed and applied to UCPs. Furthermore, it is shown that the RF field modifies the three body recombination process by ionizing electrons from intermediate high-lying Rydberg states and upshifting the continuum threshold, resulting in a suppression of three body recombination. Heating through collisionless absorption ass…
We report the spontaneous formation of a plasma from a gas of cold Rydberg molecules. Double-resonant laser excitation promotes nitric oxide, cooled to 1 K in a seeded supersonic molecular beam, to single Rydberg states extending as deep as 80 cm$^{-1}$ below the lowest ionization threshold. The density of excited molecules in the illuminated volume is as high as 1 x 10$^{13}$ cm$^{-3}$. This population evolves to produce prompt free electrons and a durable cold plasma of electrons and intact NO$^{+}$ ions.
Plasma dynamics critically depends on density and temperature, thus well-controlled experimental realizations are essential benchmarks for theoretical models. The formation of an ultracold plasma can be triggered by ionizing a tunable number of atoms in a micrometer-sized volume of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) by a single femtosecond laser pulse. The large density combined with the extremely low temperature of the BEC give rise to an initially strongly coupled plasma in a so far unexplored regime bridging ultracold neutral plasma and ionized nanoclusters. Here, we report on ultrafast cooli…
We report measurements of the ion velocity distribution in an ultracold neutral plasma derived from a dense, cold Rydberg gas in a MOT. The Rydberg atoms are excited using a resonant two-step excitation pathway with lasers of 4 ns duration. The plasma forms spontaneously and rapidly. The rms width of the ion velocity distribution is determined by measuring laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) of the ions. The measured excitation efficiency is compared with a Monte-Carlo wavefunction calculation, and significant differences are observed. We discuss the conditions for blockaded Rydberg excitation an…
We investigate the strongly correlated ion dynamics and the degree of coupling achievable in the evolution of freely expanding ultracold neutral plasmas. We demonstrate that the ionic Coulomb coupling parameter $Γ_{\rm i}$ increases considerably in later stages of the expansion, reaching the strongly coupled regime despite the well-known initial drop of $Γ_{\rm i}$ to order unity due to disorder-induced heating. Furthermore, we formulate a suitable measure of correlation and show th at $Γ_{\rm i}$ calculated from the ionic temperature and density reflects the degree of order in the system if i…
We have studied the behavior of cold Rydberg atoms embedded in an ultracold plasma. We demonstrate that even deeply bound Rydberg atoms are completely ionized in such an environment, due to electron collisions. Using a fast pulse extraction of the electrons from the plasma we found that the number of excess positive charges, which is directly related to the electron temperature Te, is not strongly affected by the ionization of the Rydberg atoms. Assuming a Michie-King equilibrium distribution, in analogy with globular star cluster dynamics, we estimate Te. Without concluding on heating or cool…
Ultracold neutral plasmas, formed by photoionizing laser-cooled atoms near the ionization threshold, have electron temperatures in the 1-1000 kelvin range and ion temperatures from tens of millikelvin to a few kelvin. They represent a new frontier in the study of neutral plasmas, which traditionally deals with much hotter systems, but they also blur the boundaries of plasma, atomic, condensed matter, and low temperature physics. Modelling these plasmas challenges computational techniques and theories of non-equilibrium systems, so the field has attracted great interest from the theoretical and…
Penning ionization releases electrons in a state-selected Rydberg gas of nitric oxide entrained in a supersonic molecular beam. Subsequent processes of electron impact avalanche, bifurcation, and quench form a strongly coupled, spatially correlated ultracold plasma of NO$^+$ ions and electrons that exhibits characteristics of self-organized criticality. This plasma contains a residue of nitric oxide Rydberg molecules. A conventional fluid dynamics of ion-electron-Rydberg quasi-equilibrium predicts rapid decay to neutral atoms. Instead, the NO plasma endures for a millisecond or more, suggestin…
We report a systematic experimental and numerical study of the expansion of ultra-cold Rydberg plasmas. Specifically, we have measured the asymptotic expansion velocities, $v_0$, of ultra-cold neutral plasmas (UNPs) which evolve from cold, dense samples of Rydberg rubidium atoms using ion time-of-flight spectroscopy. From this, we have obtained values for the effective initial plasma electron temperature, $T_{e,0} = m_{ion} v_0^2/k_B$ (where $m_{ion}$ is the Rb$^+$ ion mass), as a function of the original Rydberg atom density and binding energy, $E_{b,i}$. We have also simulated numerically th…
We argue that the quenched ultracold plasma presents an experimental platform for studying quantum many-body physics of disordered systems in the long-time and finite energy-density limits. We consider an experiment that quenches a plasma of nitric oxide to an ultracold system of Rydberg molecules, ions and electrons that exhibits a long-lived state of arrested relaxation. The qualitative features of this state fail to conform with classical models. Here, we develop a microscopic quantum description for the arrested phase based on an effective many-body spin Hamiltonian that includes both dipo…
We use cold plasma theory to calculate the response of an ultracold neutral plasma to an applied rf field. The free oscillation of the system has a continuous spectrum and an associated damped quasimode. We show that this quasimode dominates the driven response. We use this model to simulate plasma oscillations in an expanding ultracold neutral plasma, providing insights into the assumptions used to interpret experimental data [Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 318 (2000)].
Clouds of ultracold strontium 5s48s 1S0 or 5s47d 1D2 Rydberg atoms are created by two photon excitation of laser cooled 5s2 1S0 atoms. The spontaneous evolution of the cloud of low orbital angular momentum (low-l) Rydberg states towards an ultracold neutral plasma is observed by imaging resonant light scattered from core ions, a technique that provides both spatial and temporal resolution. Evolution is observed to be faster for the S-states, which display isotropic attractive interactions, than for the D-states, which exhibit anisotropic, principally repulsive interactions. Immersion of the at…
We demonstrate one-dimensional sub-Doppler laser cooling of a beam of YbF molecules to 100 $μ$K. This is a key step towards a measurement of the electron's electric dipole moment using ultracold molecules. We compare the effectiveness of magnetically-assisted and polarization-gradient sub-Doppler cooling mechanisms. We model the experiment and find good agreement with our data.
Electrons in a spherical ultracold quasineutral plasma at temperature in the Kelvin range can be created by laser excitation of an ultra-cold laser cooled atomic cloud. The dynamical behavior of the electrons is similar to the one described by conventional models of stars clusters dynamics. The single mass component, the spherical symmetry and no stars evolution are here accurate assumptions. The analog of binary stars formations in the cluster case is three-body recombination in Rydberg atoms in the plasma case with the same Heggie's law: soft binaries get softer and hard binaries get harder.…
Conductor-Insulator Crossover in the Steady-State Ultracold Plasmas
Lomonosov Moscow State University(莫斯科国立大学);Sternberg Astronomical Institute(斯滕伯格天文研究所);Space Research Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences(俄罗斯科学院空间研究所);South Ural State University(南乌拉尔国立大学);South Ural State Humanitarian Pedagogical University(南乌拉尔国立人文师范大学)
Heavy polar diatomic molecules are the leading candidates in searches for the permanent electric dipole moment of the electron (eEDM). Next-generation eEDM search experiments ideally require extremely large coherence times, in large ensembles of trapped molecules that have a high sensitivity to the eEDM. We consider a family of molecules, mercury-alkali diatomics, that can be feasibly produced from ultracold atoms. We present calculations of the effective electric fields experienced by the electron in these molecules. The combination of reasonably large effective electric fields, and a straigh…
A theoretical interpretation of the recent experimental studies of temperature evolution in the course of time in the freely-expanding ultracold plasma bunches, released from a magneto-optical trap, is discussed. The most interesting result is finding the asymptotics of the form T_e ~ t^{-(1.2 +/- 0.1)} instead of t^{-2}, which was expected for the rarefied monatomic gas during inertial expansion. As follows from our consideration, the substantially decelerated decay of the temperature can be well explained by the specific features of the equation of state for the ultracold plasmas with strong…
We report on the behaviour of the ionization avalanche in an ensemble of ultracold 87Rb atoms coupled to a high lying Rydberg state and investigate extensions to the current model by including the effects of three-body recombination and plasma expansion. To separate the two effects we study the time dependence of the plasma formation at various densities as well as for different nS and nD states. At medium densities and low n we observe the onset of the avalanche as has been reported in other experiments, as well as a subsequent turn-off of the avalanche for longer excitation times, which we a…
Permanent electric dipole moments (EDMs) of fundamental particles such as the electron are signatures of parity and time-reversal violation due to physics beyond the standard model. EDM measurements probe new physics at energy scales well beyond the reach of present-day colliders. Recent advances in assembling molecules from ultracold atoms have opened up new opportunities for improving the reach of EDM experiments. But better measurement techniques, that are not limited by the magnetic field sensitivity of such molecules, are necessary before these opportunities can be fully exploited. We pre…
Spontaneous avalanche to plasma splits the core of an ellipsoidal Rydberg gas of nitric oxide. Ambipolar expansion first quenches the electron temperature of this core plasma. Then, long-range, resonant charge transfer from ballistic ions to frozen Rydberg molecules in the wings of the ellipsoid quenches the centre-of-mass ion/Rydberg molecule velocity distribution. This sequence of steps gives rise to a remarkable mechanics of self-assembly, in which the kinetic energy of initially formed hot electrons and ions drives an observed separation of plasma volumes. These dynamics adiabatically sequ…
Experimental techniques to manipulate cold molecules have seen great development in recent years. The precision measurements of cold molecules are expected to give insights into fundamental physics. We use a rovibrationally pure sample of ultracold KRb molecules to improve the measurement on the stability of electron-to-proton mass ratio ($μ= \frac{m_{\rm e}}{M_{\rm p}}$). The measurement is based upon a large sensitivity coefficient of the molecular spectroscopy, which utilizes a transition between nearly a degenerate pair of vibrational levels each associated with a different electronic pote…
We show that the photoassociation (PA) rate of ultracold diatomic molecules in the vicinity of a Feshbach resonance could be used to probe variations of the electron-to-proton mass ratio $β= m_e/m_p$, a quantity related to other fundamental constants via the $Λ_{\mathrm{QCD}}$ scale. The PA rate exhibits two features near a Feshbach resonance, a minimum and a maximum, which are very sensitive to the details of the interactions and the exact mass of the system. The effect and detection threshold are illustrated in the formation rates of ultracold Li$_2$ and LiNa molecules by performing coupled-…
The influence has been studied of the ionization laser polarization on the effective temperature of an ultracold electron source, which is based on near-threshold photoionization. This source is capable of producing both high-intensity and high-coherence electron pulses, with applications in for example electron diffraction experiments. For both nanosecond and femtosecond photoionization, a sinusoidal dependence of the temperature on polarization angle has been found. For most experimental conditions, the temperature is minimal when the polarization coincides with the direction of acceleration…
Measurements of the electron's electric dipole moment (eEDM) are demanding tests of physics beyond the Standard Model. We describe how ultracold YbF molecules could be used to improve the precision of eEDM measurements by two to three orders of magnitude. Using numerical simulations, we show how the combination of magnetic focussing, two-dimensional transverse laser cooling, and frequency-chirped laser slowing, can produce an intense, slow, highly-collimated molecular beam. We show how to make a magneto-optical trap of YbF molecules and how the molecules could be loaded into an optical lattice…