On the evolution of the phase-space distributions of a non-spherical molecular ultracold plasma in a supersonic beam

Abstract

This paper offers a toolbox for characterizing the initial conditions and predicting the evolution of the ultracold plasma that forms after resonant laser preparation of a Rydberg gas entrained in a differentially pumped supersonic molecular beam. The conditions afforded by a skimmed free-jet expansion combined with the geometry of laser excitation, determines the phase-space volume of the excited gas. A hydrodynamic shell model, that accounts for the ellipsoidal spatial distribution of this excitation volume in concert with the deforming effects of dissociative recombination, serves to simulate the ambipolar expansion of this molecular ultracold plasma.