Structures and Electric Fields in Laser-Induced Magnetized Plasmas

电离气体或等离子体在自然界中无处不在，例如在闪电、电离层、太阳和许多天体物理环境中。等离子体在气体放电灯、微加工工艺、聚变等离子体、内燃机和霍尔推进器等技术中也很常见。该项目将开发基于原子光谱的新方法，以监测激光产生的实验室等离子体内部的电场和磁场。这是重要的，因为等离子体场是众所周知的难以监测，特别是对于小体积的等离子体，而不影响粒子分布和场。该研究将开创新型量子技术，提供非侵入性等离子体诊断。将研究等离子体中的激波前沿和有序结构，以及磁场对等离子体动力学的影响。由于等离子体在技术中的重要性，等离子体物理学研究推动了经济竞争力和繁荣，国防，太空探索和通信的进步。它还促进了基础等离子体科学和天体物理学的进步。参与该项目的学生将获得培训，帮助他们为科学，工业和教育事业做好准备。本研究是在小尺度，磁化，和潜在的强耦合，等离子体获得的激光诱导光电离的原子蒸气。 捕获原子和室温碱原子蒸气电池都将被使用。当光生等离子体膨胀时，它们形成激波前沿，并且在离子和电子之间足够强的耦合的情况下，等离子体预计将发展与晶体状秩序的相关性。 该项目将开创新的方法，使位置和时间分辨的测量膨胀，冲击波阵面，和有序的结构等离子体。将利用里德伯原子和电磁感应透明（EIT）的激光光谱学开发诊断方法。 等离子体中的电场将通过Rydberg-EIT光谱绘制。 另一种诊断方法将使用微通道板来计数在可变延迟后从血浆中提取的颗粒。 使用嵌入等离子体中的场敏感里德伯态示踪原子作为等离子体中宏观和随机（霍尔茨马克）电场的全光学诊断，可能会影响磁化等离子体发生的其他领域，例如天体物理学，惯性约束和磁约束聚变，z箍缩研究和离子捕获。从事这个项目的研究生和本科生将接受原子和等离子体物理研究、研究报告和同伴指导的培训。学生还将获得科学仪器的建造和操作经验。

Ionized gases, or plasmas, are ubiquitous in nature, for example in lightning, the ionosphere, the sun, and many astrophysical environments. Plasmas are also common in technologies such as gas discharge lamps, microfabrication processes, fusion plasmas, combustion engines, and Hall thrusters. This project will develop new methods based on atomic spectroscopy to monitor the electric and magnetic fields inside of laser-generated laboratory plasmas. This is important because plasma fields are notoriously difficult to monitor, especially for small volumes of plasma, without influencing the particle distributions and fields. The research will pioneer novel quantum technologies that provide non-invasive plasma diagnostics. Shock fronts and ordered structures in plasmas will be studied, as well as the effects of magnetic fields on plasma dynamics. Due to the importance of plasmas in technology, plasma-physics research such as this drives advances in economic competitiveness and prosperity, national defense, space exploration, and communications. It also promotes progress in basic plasma science and astrophysics. Students affiliated with this project will get training that will help them prepare for careers in science, industry and education. This study is on small-scale, magnetized, and potentially strongly-coupled, plasmas obtained by laser-induced photo-ionization of atomic vapors. Both trapped atoms and room-temperature alkali-atom vapor cells will be used. As the photo-generated plasmas expand, they form shock fronts, and in the case of sufficiently strong coupling between ions and electrons the plasmas are expected to develop correlations with crystal-like order. This project will pioneer novel ways to make position- and time-resolved measurements of the expansion, the shock fronts, and the ordered structures in plasmas. A diagnostic method will be developed using laser spectroscopy with Rydberg atoms and electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT). Electric fields in the plasma will be mapped via Rydberg-EIT spectroscopy. Another diagnostic will use micro-channel plates to count particles that are extracted from the plasma after a variable delay. The use of field-sensitive Rydberg-state tracer atoms embedded in the plasma as an all-optical diagnostic of macroscopic and random (Holtsmark) electric fields in plasmas may impact other fields in which magnetized plasmas occur, for instance in astrophysics, inertial-confinement and magnetic-confinement fusion, z-pinch studies, and ion trapping. Graduate and undergraduate students working on this project will be trained in atomic and plasma physics research, research presentation, and peer instruction. Students will also gain experience in the construction and operation of scientific apparatus.