Ultracold neutral plasma expansion in a strong uniform magnetic field

The ion temperature in ultracold neutral plasmas is limited by disorder-induced heating (DIH). This process increases the ion temperature from 0.001 K to around 2 K in 100 ns. It occurs because of the sudden appearance of close neighboring ions in an initially uncorrelated state. Previous work in our group has shown that DIH can be mitigated using electron screening. It has been suggested that DIH could be further supressed by introducing a strong, uniform magnetic field. The field will keep the electrons nearer their parent ions, reducing the ion-ion electrical forces in DIH. The field will also prevent the plasma from expanding transverse to the field, additionally influencing the ion temperature. We are building an experiment to study DIH and expansion of an ultracold neutral Ca⁺ plasma in a field of B = 0.3 T. We will use fluorescence imaging to measure both the time-evolving ion temperature and density. In this talk I will present both experimental design and preliminary expansion data.