Evolution from a Molecular Rydberg Gas to an Ultracold Plasma in a Seeded Supersonic Expansion of NO

2008/04/15 by J. P. Morrison, Chris Rennick, C. J. Rennick +4 · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Dust and Plasma Wave Phenomena #physics.atom-ph #physics.chem-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.101.205005

4 pages (two column) 3 figures; smaller figure files, corrected typos

arxiv created 2008/04/15 · openalex publication_date 2008/11/14 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

We report the spontaneous formation of a plasma from a gas of cold Rydberg molecules. Double-resonant laser excitation promotes nitric oxide, cooled to 1 K in a seeded supersonic molecular beam, to single Rydberg states extending as deep as 80 cm^\ensuremath-1 below the lowest ionization threshold. The density of excited molecules in the illuminated volume approaches 1\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10¹³ cm^\ensuremath-3. This population evolves to produce free electrons and a durable cold plasma of electrons and intact NO⁺ ions.

Citations

• Ultracold neutral plasmas

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