Reduction of electron heating by magnetizing ultracold neutral plasma

TL;DR

Applying a strong magnetic field to ultracold neutral plasma constrains electron motion, significantly reducing electron heating and increasing effective coupling strength, with potential experimental benefits.

Contribution

This study demonstrates that magnetic fields can effectively reduce electron heating in ultracold plasma by constraining electron motion, a novel approach to controlling plasma temperature.

Findings

Electron heating is reduced by a factor of three.

A temperature anisotropy develops and persists.

Magnetic fields constrain electron motion to reduce heating.

Abstract

Electron heating in an ultracold neutral plasma is modeled using classical molecular dynamics simulations in the presence of an externally applied magnetic field. A sufficiently strong magnetic field is found to reduce disorder induced heating and three body recombination heating of electrons by constraining electron motion, and therefore heating, to the single dimension aligned with the magnetic field. A strong and long-lasting temperature anisotropy develops, and the overall kinetic electron temperature is effectively reduced by a factor of three. These results suggest that experiments may increase the effective electron coupling strength using an applied magnetic field.