Microwave Diagnostics of Ultracold Neutral Plasma

TL;DR

This paper proposes a microwave scattering method to diagnose ultracold neutral plasma, enabling measurement of total electron number and three-body recombination rate, independent of density profile, for improved plasma understanding.

Contribution

It introduces a novel microwave diagnostic technique that directly relates scattering power to total electron number, bypassing density profile dependence, and allows estimation of recombination rates.

Findings

Microwave scattering power depends on total electron number, not density profile.

Method provides a way to measure three-body recombination rate.

The approach simplifies plasma diagnostics in ultracold conditions.

Abstract

We suggest an approach for using microwave radiation in diagnostics of ultracold neutral plasma. Microwave scattering from ultracold neutral plasma is calculated . Simple formulations are get and indicate that the dipole radiation power of ultracold neutral plasma does not depend on density profile $n_e(r)$ and $\omega$ when $\omega\gg\omega_{pe0}$, but on the total electron number $N_e$. This method provides the information of $N_e$ and from which we can get the three body recombination rate of the plasma, which is extremely important in the researches of ultracold neutral plasma.