Trapping and Evolution Dynamics of Ultracold Two-Component Plasmas
Jongsoo Choi, Brenton Knuffman, X. H. Zhang +2 more
We demonstrate the trapping of a strongly magnetized, quasineutral ultracold plasma in a nested Penning trap with a background field of 2.9 T. Electrons remain trapped in this system for several milliseconds. Early in the evolution, the dynamics are driven by a breathing-mode oscillation in the ionic charge distribution, which modulates the electron trap depth. Over longer times scales, the electronic component undergoes cooling. Trap loss resulting from E x B drift is characterized.
Physical Review Letters•Apr 28, 2008•13 citations