plasma; expansion; two dimensions; density; velocity
Description/Abstract
An isothermal model of ultracold neutral plasma expansion is extended to systems without spherical symmetry. It is used to interpret new fluorescence measurements on ultracold neutral calcium plasmas. For a self-similar expansion, the fluid equations are solved both analytically and numerically. The density and velocity solutions are used to predict fluorescence signals induced by a laser beam weakly focused into the plasma. Despite the simplicity of the model, predicted fluorescence signals reproduce major features of the experimental data
(c) 2005 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in The Journal of Chemical Physics and may be found at http://link.aip.org/link/?PHPAEN/12/123501/1;