https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2006-00131-2
Kinetic energy oscillations in annular regions of ultracold neutral plasmas
1
Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, Houston, Texas, 77005, USA
2
Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 23, Taipei, 106, Taiwan
Corresponding author: a sampad@rice.edu
Received:
2
December
2005
Revised:
26
March
2006
Published online:
15
June
2006
A study of ion equilibration in annular regions of ultracold strontium plasmas is reported. Plasmas are formed by photoionizing laser-cooled atoms with a pulsed dye laser. The experimental probe is spatially-resolved absorption spectroscopy using the 2S1/2-2P1/2 transition of the Sr+ ion. The kinetic energy of the ions is calculated from the Doppler broadening of the spectrum, and it displays clear oscillations during the first microsecond after plasma formation. The oscillations, which are a characteristic of strong coulomb coupling, are fit with a simple phenomenological model incorporating damping and density variation in the plasma.
PACS: 52.35.-g – Waves, oscillations, and instabilities in plasmas and intense beams / 32.80.Fb – Photoionization of atoms and ions / 32.80.Pj – Optical cooling of atoms; trapping
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2006
