title: Demonstrating universal scaling for dynamics of Yukawa one-component plasmas after an interaction quench.
abstract: The Yukawa one-component plasma (OCP) model is a paradigm for describing plasmas that contain one component of interest and one or more other components that can be treated as a neutralizing, screening background. In appropriately scaled units, interactions are characterized entirely by a screening parameter, κ. As a result, systems of similar κ show the same dynamics, regardless of the underlying parameters (e.g., density and temperature). We demonstrate this behavior using ultracold neutral plasmas (UNPs) created by photoionizing a cold (T≤10 mK) gas. The ions in UNP systems are well described by the Yukawa model, with the electrons providing the screening. Creation of the plasma through photoionization can be thought of as a rapid quench of the interaction potential from κ=∞ to a final κ value set by the electron density and temperature. We demonstrate experimentally that the postquench dynamics are universal in κ over a factor of 30 in density and an order of magnitude in temperature. Results are compared with molecular-dynamics simulations. We also demonstrate that features of the postquench kinetic energy evolution, such as disorder-induced heating and kinetic-energy oscillations, can be used to determine the plasma density and the electron temperature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Langin
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Strickler
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maksimovic
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: McQuillen
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pohl
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Texas Southern University, Houston, Texas 77004, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vrinceanu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Killian
mesh_terms: D004583:Electrons; D006358:Hot Temperature; D007700:Kinetics; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D058626:Plasma Gases / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D058626:Plasma Gases