U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

PUBLICATIONS

Creation of an Ultracold Neutral Plasma

Published

Author(s)

T C. Killian, S Kulin, S D. Bergeson, Luis A. Orozco, C R. Orzel, S L. Rolston

Abstract

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 109 cm-3, and the temperatures of electrons and ions are as low as 100 mK and10 K, 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. The parameters of the plasma can be such that both electrons and ions are strongly coupled.
Citation
Physical Review Letters
Volume
83
Issue
No. 23
Pub Type
Journals

Keywords

laser cooling, neutral plasma, strongly coupled plasma, ultracold plasma

Citation

Killian, T. , Kulin, S. , Bergeson, S. , Orozco, L. , Orzel, C. and Rolston, S. (1999), Creation of an Ultracold Neutral Plasma, Physical Review Letters (Accessed December 26, 2025)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact [email protected].

Created December 1, 1999, Updated February 17, 2017
Was this page helpful?