Title :
Absorption imaging of ultracold neutral plasmas
Author :
Simien, C.E. ; Chen, Y.C. ; Gupta, P. ; Laha, S. ; Martinez, Y.N. ; Mickelson, P.G. ; Nagel, S.B. ; Killian, T.C.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Phys. & Astron., Rice Univ., Houston, TX, USA
fDate :
4/1/2005 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
We report optical absorption imaging of ultracold neutral plasmas. Imaging allows direct observation of the ion density profile and expansion of the plasma. The frequency dependence of the plasma´s optical depth gives the ion absorption spectrum, which is broadened by the ion motion. We use the spectral width to monitor ion equilibration in the first 250 ns after plasma formation. On a microsecond time scale, we observe the radial acceleration of ions resulting from pressure exerted by the trapped electron gas.
Keywords :
plasma density; plasma diagnostics; plasma flow; plasma pressure; ion absorption spectrum; ion density profile; ion equilibrium; ion motion; microsecond time scale; optical absorption imaging; plasma expansion; plasma formation; plasma optical depth; radial ion acceleration; trapped electron gas pressure; ultracold neutral plasmas; Absorption; Acceleration; Electron optics; Electron traps; Frequency dependence; Monitoring; Optical imaging; Particle beam optics; Plasma accelerators; Plasma density; Image analysis; plasma measurements; plasmas; spectral analysis;
Journal_Title :
Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TPS.2005.845342
