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PUBLICATIONS

Formation of Rydberg Atoms in an Expanding Ultracold Neutral Plasma

Published

Author(s)

M J. Lim, T C. Killian, S Kulin, R Dumke, S Bergeson, S L. Rolston

Abstract

We study the formation of Rydberg atoms in expanding plasmas at temperatures of 1-1000K and densities from 10^5 - 10^10 cm^-3. Up to 20% of the initially free charges recombine in about 100 microseconds and the binding energy of the Rydberg atoms approximately equals the increase in the kinetic energy of the remaining free electrons. We contrast these observations with theory for three-body recombination.
Citation
Physical Review Letters
Volume
86
Issue
No. 17
Pub Type
Journals

Keywords

recombination, ultracold plasma

Citation

Lim, M. , Killian, T. , Kulin, S. , Dumke, R. , Bergeson, S. and Rolston, S. (2001), Formation of Rydberg Atoms in an Expanding Ultracold Neutral Plasma, Physical Review Letters (Accessed May 11, 2025)

Issues

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Created April 1, 2001, Updated February 17, 2017