  We have used the free expansion of ultracold neutral plasmas as a
time-resolved probe of electron temperature. A combination of experimental
measurements of the ion expansion velocity and numerical simulations
characterize the crossover from an elastic-collision regime at low initial
Gamma_e, which is dominated by adiabatic cooling of the electrons, to the
regime of high Gamma_e in which inelastic processes drastically heat the
electrons. We identify the time scales and relative contributions of various
processes, and experimentally show the importance of radiative decay and
disorder-induced electron heating for the first time in ultracold neutral
plasmas.
