Cold, laser-excited plasmas in strong magnetic fields*

Cold, laser-excited plasmas in strong magnetic fields exhibit lower electron heating and three-body recombination rates than field-free plasmas. This raises the prospect of achieving stronger Coulomb coupling of the electron gas. The presented research is aimed at time- and spatially-resolved imaging of such plasmas, and non-invasive electric-field measurement and imaging using Rydberg-level spectroscopy. Results on laser-spectroscopic measurement of plasma electric fields and plasma cyclotron heating will be discussed. We will further report on experimental progress in realizing novel glass-cell Penning plasma trap systems.