Method to estimate the electron temperature and neutral density in a plasma from spectroscopic measurements using argon atom and ion collisional-radiative models

Journal Article · Wed Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 2008 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2953577· OSTI ID:21266489

Sciamma, Ella M; Bengtson, Roger D; Rowan, W L; Lee, Charles A; Berisford, Dan; Lee, Kevin; Gentle, K W ^[1]; Keesee, Amy ^[2]

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1. University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station Austin, Texas 78712 (United States)
2. West Virginia University, P.O. Box 6315, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506 (United States)

We present a method to infer the electron temperature in argon plasmas using a collisional-radiative model for argon ions and measurements of electron density to interpret absolutely calibrated spectroscopic measurements of argon ion (Ar II) line intensities. The neutral density, and hence the degree of ionization of this plasma, can then be estimated using argon atom (Ar I) line intensities and a collisional-radiative model for argon atoms. This method has been tested for plasmas generated on two different devices at the University of Texas at Austin: the helicon experiment and the helimak experiment. We present results that show good correlation with other measurements in the plasma.

• OSTI ID: 21266489
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 79, Issue 10; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2953577; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0034-6748
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ARGON
ARGON IONS
ATOMS
DENSITY
ELECTRON DENSITY
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
ION TEMPERATURE
LANGMUIR PROBE
PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA PRODUCTION