Designing a modified Zeeman slower for the Paschen-Back magnetic regime

<p>Controlled study of high-density plasmas, such as those found in fusion reactions and stars, is difficult due to their highly-magnetized environments. A specialized high magnetic field (High-B) trap was developed at the University of Michigan in Georg Raithel's research group to study such highly magnetized, high density plasmas using rubidium atoms. By replacing the atom source with a Zeeman slower, a well-studied device to slow and cool atoms, the atom flux could be increased by a factor more than 1000, leading to higher High-B plasma densities. The goal of this project is to design a Zeeman slower that differs from standard designs by accounting for the considerable fall-off bias field from the High-B trap. We created a Python model that computes the modified magnetic field generated by a set of solenoids with operating and design parameters which can be optimized to match the desired Zeeman field within 4 G. This Zeeman slower design allows for operation with or without the High-B bias field.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Physics and Astronomy

Year dc:date.available

2019

Author dc:creator

• Nofs, Leo Michael

Contributors dc:contributor

• Eric Paradis, PhD
• Ernest Behringer, PhD
• Jonathan Skuza, PhD

• Plasma
• Rubidium
• Slowing
• Zeeman
• Physics

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/978

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-2361