Numerical Simulation of Ultracold Plasmas: How Rapid Intrinsic Heating Limits the Development of Correlation

Abstract

In recent experiments, ultracold plasmas were produced by photoionizing small clouds of laser-cooled atoms. It has been suggested that the low initial temperature of these novel plasmas leads directly to strong correlation and order. In contrast, we argue that rapid intrinsic heating raises the electron temperature to the point where strong correlation cannot develop. The argument is corroborated by a molecular-dynamics simulation of the early-time plasma evolution.