Keywords

electron density, fluorescence, perturbation theory, plasma density, plasma properties, plasma temperature, Rydberg states

Abstract

We present the first measurements and simulations of recombination fluorescence from ultracold neutral calcium plasmas. This method probes three-body recombination at times less than 1 µs, shorter than previously published time scales. For the lowest initial electron temperatures, the recombination rate scales with the density as n22, significantly slower than the predicted n3. Recombination fluorescence opens a new diagnostic window in ultracold plasmas. In most cases it probes deeply bound level populations that depend critically on electron energetics. However, a perturbation in the calcium 4snd Rydberg series allows our fluorescence measurements to probe the population in weakly bound levels that result just after recombination.

Original Publication Citation

S. D. Bergeson and F. Robicheaux, “Recombination fluorescence in ultracold neutral plasmas,” Physical Review Letters, 11, 7322 (28). The original publication of this article can be found at http://link.aps.org/doi/1.113/PhysRevLett.11.7322