Pulsar Pulsar A pulsar (from "pulse" and "-ar" as in quasar) is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. This radiation can be observed only when the beam of emission is pointing toward Earth (much like the way a lighthouse can be seen only when the light is pointed in the direction of an observer), and is responsible for the pulsed appearance of emission. Neutron stars are very dense, and have short, regular rotational periods. This produces a very precise interval between pulses that ranges from milliseconds to seconds for an individual pulsar. Pulsars are
Plasma diagnostics modification of the laser-induced fluorescence technique. In this approach the upper level is excited by absorbing two photons and registering the resulting emission from the excited state. The advantage of this approach is that the registered light from the fluorescence is with a different wavelength from the exciting laser beam, which leads to improved signal to noise ratio. The optical diagnostics above measure line radiation from atoms. Alternatively, the effects of free charges on electromagnetic radiation can be used as a diagnostic. In magnetized plasmas, electrons will gyrate around magnetic field lines and emit cyclotron radiation. The frequency of the