Creating and studying ion acoustic waves in ultracold neutral plasmas

2012/01/03 by T. C. Killian, Killian, T. C., Patrick McQuillen +5 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Dust and Plasma Wave Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph) #Statistical Mechanics and Entropy

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1201.0786

openalex publication_date 2012/01/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We excite ion acoustic waves in ultracold neutral plasmas by imprinting density modulations during plasma creation. Laser-induced fluorescence is used to observe the density and velocity perturbations created by the waves. The effect of expansion of the plasma on the evolution of the wave amplitude is described by treating the wave action as an adiabatic invariant. After accounting for this effect, we determine that the waves are weakly damped, but the damping is significantly faster than expected for Landau damping.

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