Abstract

We study the expansion velocity and ion temperature evolution of ultracold neutral plasmas (UNPs) of calcium atoms under the influence of a uniform magnetic field that ranges up to 200 G. In the experiments, we use a magneto-optical trap (MOT) to capture the neutral atoms and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) to take images of the plasma. We vary the magnetic field strengths and the initial electron temperatures and observe the plasma evolution in time. We compare the ion temperature evolution to the theory introduced in the paper by Pohl et. al. [Phys. Rev. A 70, 033416 (2004)]. The evolution of the gradient of expansion velocity suggests the presence of ion acoustic waves (IAWs). We speculate that our measurements showing that the ion temperature remains relatively high throughout the evolution is a biproduct of the IAW.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Physics and Astronomy

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2023-06-26

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd12864

Keywords

Coulomb coupling parameter, Debye screening length, ultracold neutral plasma, alkaline earth metals, magneto-optical trap, laser-induced fluorescence, Zeeman shift, frequency comb, Nd:YAG-pumped dye laser, Doppler shift, Doppler broadening, Voigt profile, ion acoustic waves

Language

english

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