Use of the 447 nm He I line to determine electron concentrations

The helium 447 nm complex line has been excited in a wall-stabilized arc fed at atmospheric pressure by pure He, He-H₂, He-Ne-H₂ or He-Ar-H₂ mixtures. Photoelectric endon observations of the central part of the arc channel were made with high spatial (1/600) and spectral (53,000) resolution.A collection of 88 helium 447 nm line profiles, of which 75 were recorded simultaneously with H_β and Ne I or Ar II line profiles, yielded information about the electron concentration (2 X 10²⁰-2 X 10²² m^-3), temperature and relative ion composition of the plasma. Plots have been made of the forbidden to allowed peak separations (S), forbidden to allowed relative intensities of the peaks (F/A) and dips (i.e. the minimum intensities between lines) to allowed peak intensities (D/A) as functions of electron concentration, temperature and ionic composition in different plasmas.The peak separations depend only on the electron concentration. Other characteristic line-profile parameters (F/A and D/A) show weak ion motion with a strong electron-concentration influence. We propose simple formulae, which may be useful for practical determinations of the electron concentrations in helium-containing plasmas with an accuracy of ±15% and without taking into account either the chemical composition of the plasma or the temperature.     

Experimental Stark broadening studies of the CI transition 3s1P1o ? 3p1S0 at 833.5 nm

Experimental Stark broadening studies of the infrared CI transition 3s ¹ P ₁ ^o − 3p ¹ S ₀ at 833.5 nm are reported for the first time. A high-current wall-stabilized arc, operated in a mixture of helium, argon, carbon dioxide and hydrogen, was applied as the plasma source. Radiation emitted from homogeneous and optically thin plasma layers was analyzed. Stark broadening studies of the selected CI transition and the hydrogen Balmer β line were performed. As expected from theoretical considerations, the CI line width depends linearly on the electron density of the plasma. Applying theoretical Stark broadening data for the H _gb line, the measured Stark widths of the CI line were calibrated for the purpose of electron density determination in low temperature plasmas.     

Measurement of width and shift of rare gas lines emitted from a stock-tube plasma

In a diaphragm shock-tube, Ar, Kr and Xe plasmas were generated with equilibrium temperatures of 8,000 to 12,000 K. The electron densities were measured with a two-wavelength interferometer and varied from 4×10¹⁶ to 1.4×10¹⁷ cm^-3. Emission profiles of spectral lines were recorded with a polychromator setup in 1 μs intervals using a fast data acquisition system. Width w and shift d turned out to be proportional to electron density N_e for the observed lines. Stark broadening parameters w/N_e and d/N_e are presented for 3 Ar(I), 4 Kr(I) and 5 Xe(I) lines in the visible region of the spectrum.     

Spectroscopic diagnostics of carbon and aluminum laser-produced plasmas

VUV emission spectra of plasmas produced by focusing laser radiation with intensity of 10¹⁰–10¹¹ W/cm² on carbon and aluminum targets were studied. Using the partial local thermodynamic equilibrium model for an electron density exceeding 10¹⁷ cm^?3, the spectroscopic diagnostics and the analysis of ion composition of plasmas were carried out. The electron temperatures determined for carbon and aluminum plasmas from the ratio of intensities of ionic lines were found to be 8±3 eV and 11±4 eV, respectively. Stark broadening of aluminum lines was measured and parameters of electron broadening were determined. Using the spatially resolved measurement of Stark line broadening, the spatial density distribution and the law of electron gas expansion were found. The electron gas in the hot region of size 5 mm with an average density of (5±2) 10₁₇cm ^?3 experienced one-dimensional expansion according to the law 1/z ^1.1 with increasing distance z from the target.     

An experimental investigation of partial LTE for lower excited levels of Ar(I) in a wall-confined,argon arc plasma

This paper contains experimental results on partial LTE in the lower excited levels of Ar(I). The experiments were performed in a well-confined argon arc source. The population densities were obtained from self-absorption measurements of the lines. Plasma parameters were determined spectroscopically; measurements included the electron density (from the H_β line width) and the electron temperature (from the Boltzmann plot for higher excited levels of Ar(I)). The results show that the levels 1s₅ to 1s₅ are in Saha-Boltzmann equilibrium for electron densities above 3 × 10¹⁶ cm^-3.     

On the Stark broadening of the He I 447.1 nm spectral line

Characteristics of the Stark broadened and overlapping 447.1 nm He I spectral line and its forbidden 447.0 nm components have been measured at electron densities between 4.4×10²² m^-3 and 8.2×10²² m^-3 and electron temperatures between 18 000 K and 33 000 K in plasmas created in five various discharge conditions using the low pressure pulsed arc as an optically thin plasma source operated in helium-nitrogen-oxygen gas mixture. Good agreement was found among our measured line characteristics and their existing calculated values, based on the quasistatic approximation. Possible influence of the singly ionized oxygen impurity atoms (O II) on the intensity values of the dip between allowed and forbidden components was found that can explain the disagreement among some existing experimental and calculated line characteristics data, at higher electron temperatures and densities. On the basis of the observed asymmetry of the 447.1 nm spectral line profile we have obtained the ion contribution parameter at 10²² m^-3 electron density and 8 000 K electron temperature. Received 20 February 2001 and Received in final form 25 April 2001     

Formation of N2 C3Πu and B3Πg by dissociative recombination of Ar 2 + in Ar+N2 early afterglow

The hf pulse excited Ar + N₂ mixtures and early afterglow are investigated at total pressures from 266 to 1995 Pa using nitrogen of 0·05–0·5% concentration. The time-resolved intensity of Ar I atomic lines and N₂ (2nd pos., 1st pos. and 1st neg.) band systems exhibit an intense early afterglow (0·3 ms). Both the decay of electron densityn _e and that of molecular Ar ₂ ⁺ ions and enhancement of coefficient of dissociative recombination due to electron temperature decrease after the pulse lead to the formation of characteristic secondary maximum of Ar I spectral line and N₂ molecular band intensities in the momentt _m after cut-off the pulse. The values oft _m(B³_g)>t _m(C³_u)>t _m(Ar I) decrease with increasing total pressure and increase with growing concentration of N₂ in Ar. In the afterglow period the Ar ₂ ⁺ dissociatively recombine in 5p and 4p Ar states. As a result of radiative transitions the metastable Ar (³P_2,0) atoms are formed which consequently due to collisions with N₂ molecules create electronically excited N₂. With increasing nitrogen concentration this effect becomes less pronounced and at concentration of N₂ greater than 0·5% it is negligible.     

Measurement of Ar(I) and Ar(II) transition probabilities in LTE ARC plasmas

The transition probabilities of two Ar(I) lines and one Ar(II) line have been measured in emission on wall-stabilized argon arc plasmas (0·5×10⁵?p, Nm^-2?3×10⁵; 10,000?T, K?20,000; 10²²?N_e, m^-3?5×10²³) using the “method of best fit (MBF)”. The results (without line-wing correction) are for Ar(I) at 714·7 nm, A_nm=5·66×10⁵ s^-1±5%; for Ar(I) at 430·0 nm, A_nm=3·40×10⁵ s^-1±5%; for Ar(II) at 480·6 nm, A_nm=8·82×10⁷ s^-1±7%. These values were not influenced by deviations from LTE, which have been observed at electron number densities n_e?10²³ m^-3. The small uncertainties were achieved after careful corrections of different sources of error.     

Line broadening studies in low energy plasma focus

Optical emission spectroscopic studies were carried out to characterise the plasma leading to the estimation of two plasma parameters, electron density and temperature. These experiments were conducted on a 2 kJ plasma device which is equipped with squirrel cage electrode configuration enclosed in a glass vacuum chamber filled with hydrogen at a pressure of 5 mbar. Spectral emissions obtained from each flash were photographed in the region of 4000–6000 Å using one metre Czerny-Turner spectrograph cum monochromator. Detailed examination of the observed features showed that theH _β andH _λ lines of hydrogen showed significant broadening of the order of 35 Å FWHM which is due to Stark effect expected in high density plasmas. Further several atomic lines of Cu and Zn from the electrode material (brass) showed broadening which was due to quadratic Stark effect. A comparative study of the broadening of lines obtained in DC arc, hollow cathode and plasma focus was made. Electron density from Stark broadened hydrogen lines and quadratic Stark Coefficient C₄ for the CuI and ZnI lines were evaluated. The excitation temperature was determined from the line intensity ratio method using CuI lines.     

Determination of the Electron Density in an Argon Laser Plasma by Spectroscopy of the Hydrogen Hα and Hβ Lines

From measurements of the H_α and H_β spectral line profiles in a plasma, a method is developed which allows to separate the contributions of Doppler and Stark broadening. This method is superior to the deconvolution of Voigt profiles, in particular, when the lines are of low intensity. The electron density in the plasma can be calculated from the Stark broadening. An example is the low pressure (p ≈ 1 hPa) arc discharge of argon ion lasers which is characteristised by electron densities of approximately 10¹⁴ cm^?3 at heavy particle temperatures of about 10⁴ K. These plasma parameters lead to a broadening of the Balmer H_α and H_β spectral lines of hydrogen, which has a low concentration within the discharge area. The spectral lines are broadened due to the electron density dependent Stark effect and the temperature responsive Doppler effect. The results are consistent with predictions of the argon ion laser modelling.     

Stark broadening and shift measurements of two doubly excited NI multiplets

Experimental Stark-broadening studies of two selected doubly excited NI multiplets from the infrared wavelength range are presented. One of them is very sensitive to interactions with charged particles in plasmas and the other exhibits — at the same plasma conditions — only very small broadening and shift. A high current wall-stabilized arc operated in helium with admixture of nitrogen and hydrogen was applied as the excitation source. The radiation of the plasma was detected by applying a grating spectrometer equipped with a CCD detector. Measurements were performed at electron densities of the plasma between 3×10¹⁵ and 7×10¹⁵ cm^-3, corresponding to temperatures from the range 8000–10500 K. Electron impact widths (w_e) and shifts (d_e) of fine structure components of these multiplets were determined. The evaluated Stark broadening parameters (w_e, d_e) are compared with other experimental data and with calculated Stark effect constants.     

Numerical study of the effect of gas flow in low pressure inductively coupled Ar/N<Subscript>2</Subscript> plasmas

The effect of gas flow in low pressure inductively coupled Ar/N₂ plasmas operating at the rf frequency of 13.56 MHz and the total gas pressure of 20 mTorr is studied at the gas flows of 5–700 sccm by coupling the plasma simulation with the calculation of flow dynamics. The gas temperature is 300 K and input power is 300 W. The Ar fractions are varied from 0% to 95%. The species taken into account include electrons, Ar atoms and their excited levels, N₂ molecules and their seven different excited levels, N atoms, and Ar⁺, N⁺, N₂ ⁺, N₄ ⁺ ions. 51 chemical reactions are considered. It is found that the electron densities increase and electron temperatures decrease with a rise in gas flow rate for the different Ar fractions. The densities of all the plasma species for the different Ar fractions and gas flow rates are obtained. The collisional power losses in plasma discharges are presented and the effect of gas flow is investigated.     

Widths and shifts of some plasma-broadened oxygen and carbon multiplets

Profile measurements for some multiplets of neutral oxygen and carbon have been carried out in a wall-stabilized d.c. cascade arc. A 3.4 m Ebert spectrograph with a dispersion of 1.1 mm/Å was adapted to simultaneous photoelectric scanning of two sources and was used. Different gas mixtures (O₂ + H₂O, O₂ + He, CO₂ + Ar + H₂) were used for the production of plasmas. Arc currents between 25 and 100 A yielded temperatures between 10,200 and 13,570 K and electron densities from 3.17 to 7.84 x 10¹⁶cm^-3. Using the nonlinear least-squares method, theoretical profiles of different types were fitted to sets of experimental points, and broadening parameters of multiplet components were obtained for one multiplet of CI and four multiplets of OI in the visible spectral region. Our electron-impact half-widths and shifts are compared with theoretical values and other experimental data. Reasonable agreement between theoretical and experimental results are found for OI 3947 Å, OI 4368 Å, OI 5436 Å, and CI 5798 Å. For the multiplet OI 5330 Å, the available theoretical values differ considerably and the difference between experimentally determined and calculated shift is too large. Griem's theoretical half-width is close to the experimental value.     

Temperature Distributions Across the Plasma Layer of Planar Low Pressure Microwave Plasmas — A Comparative Investigation by Optical Emission Spectroscopy

Nowadays low temperature non-equilibrium plasmas received considerable attention in very different fields of plasma processing. The subject of the present paper is the comparative measurement of neutral gas temperature and optical excitation temperature to analyze the temperature distributions across the plasma layer of H₂ non-equilibrium plasmas (p = 0.2 – 1.5 kPa) with small admixtures of hydrocarbons in a novel planar microwave plasma source (2.45 GHz) used for plasmachemical deposition purposes by means of optical emission spectroscopy. Typical microwave power flux densities into the plasma lie within a range of 2 W cm^?2 to 20 W cm^?2. Results of neutral gas temperature measurements derived from H_α line Doppler profiles are compared with rotational temperatures of H₂ and N₂ molecules. The neutral gas temperature (800–1700 K) corresponds to the rotational temperature of the H₂ molecules (Fulcher band, R 0–0 branch) but shows a more distinct spatial gradient. The rotational temperature of admixtured N₂ molecules (2000–3000 K) is much more higher although Boltzmann distribution was ensured. The spatially resolved measured excitation temperature (1–3 eV) determined with the help of line intensity ratios of admixtured Ar well agrees with Langmuir probe measurements. The reported measurements as a whole demonstrate the feasibility of comparative investigations of different optically determined temperatures for expressive characterization of low pressure microwave plasmas.     

Influence of Spectral Line Deconvolution on Measurement of Excitation Temperature in a Wall‐Stabilized Thermal Plasma by Optical Emission Spectroscopy

Abstract

The measurement of temperature in a wall‐stabilized thermal plasma is done by optical emission spectroscopy. The absolute intensity line method, relative intensity line method, and plot of the Boltzmann function are used. Another method, based on the measurement of electron density and calculations of concentrations, is also used. The influence of spectral line deconvolution on temperature profiles is studied. The results obtained by the four methods are compared. The influence of others parameters, such as the accuracy of spectroscopic constants, and the influence of the theoritical calculations of concentrations are also discussed. These methods employ Ar I, C I and O I lines to measure the temperature of an Ar–CO₂ mixture plasma produced in a wall‐stabilized arc.     

Coupling and ionization effects on hydrogen spectral line shapes in dense plasmas

A study of hydrogen lines emitted in dense and low temperature plasmas is presented. Coupling and ionization effects in a transition from impact to quasi-static broadening for electrons are analyzed with the help of the Frequency Fluctuation Model (FFM). Electron broadening of Balmer series lines is studied for different densities and temperatures spanning a wide domain from impact to quasi-static limit. It is shown that electronic broadening makes a transition from impact to quasi-static limit depending on plasma conditions and principal quantum number. Even for the Balmer alpha line, at a density equals 10¹⁸ cm^-3 and a temperature equals 1 eV, this transition occurs both in the wings and the core of the line.     

Diffusion cooling in neon,argon, and krypton afterglow plasmas

Measurements are reported of ambipolar diffusion coefficients as determined from ion density loss rates, and of electron temperatures determined using the single Langmuir probe technique, in afterglow plasmas of spectroscopically pure neon, argon and krypton. In each gas there was a critical pressure,p _{0 c} , above which the product of the ambipolar diffusion coefficient,D _a , and the reduced gas pressure,p ₀, was pressure independent and above which the electron temperature was found to cool asymptotically to the gas temperature. For pressures belowp _{0 c} ,D _a p ₀ decreased with decreasing pressure, and the electron temperature cooled asymptotically to a steady equilibrium value,T _eq, below the gas temperature, this equilibrium value itself decreasing with decreasing gas pressure. These results clearly show that diffusion cooling of electrons was taking place at these low gas pressures. A detailed study of the krypton afterglow showed that the values ofD _a p ₀ andT _eq for a given gas pressure were related in a manner predicted by simple diffusion theory. During the course of these measurements values for the zero field mobilities of Ne⁺, Ar⁺ and Kr⁺ ions in their parent gases were obtained and are also reported.     

Determination of transition probability for the 655-nm Tl line

Studies of high-presure Hg-TlI a.c. (50 Hz) arc plasmas have been used to verify the validity of Boltzmann statistics at the moment of maximum electron density (5 ms) by applying LTE criteria. For a known plasma temperature, the transition probability of the optically-thin 655-nm line of Tl was derived from emission measurements by using the self-reversed 535-nm line of Tl as reference [A₆₅₅ = (3.74±0.37) × 10⁶ s^-1].     

Analysis of Ar line spectra from indirectly-driven implosion experiments on SGII facility

This paper reports on the indirectly-driven implosion experiments on SGII laser facility in which Ar emission spectrum from Ar-doped D-filled plastic capsule is recorded with the crystal spectrometer. Spectral features of Ar Heβ line and its associated satellites are analysed to extract the electron temperature and density of the implosion core. Non local thermal equilibrium (NLTE) collisional-radiative atomic kinetics and Strark broadening line shape are included in the present calculation. By comparing the calculated spectrum with the measured one, the core electron temperature and density are inferred to be 700 eV and 2.5×10²³ cm^-3 respectively. With these inferred values of electron temperature and density, neutron yield can be estimated to agree with the measured value in magnitude despite of the very simple model used for the estimation.     

激光间接驱动内爆靶丸的X光诊断

 报道了神光Ⅱ激光聚变实验中内爆燃料靶丸区电子温度、电子密度以及燃料面密度的X光诊断结果。在电子温度诊断中，采用X射线光谱学方法，根据聚变靶丸燃料区的Ar示踪元素的Ly-β线与He-β线的强度比推断出靶丸燃料区电子温度为(950±100) eV；在电子密度诊断中，利用靶丸燃料区Ar元素的He-β线Stark展宽确定聚变靶丸芯部的电子密度为(0.9±0.2)×10²⁴ cm^-3；在燃料区面密度诊断中，利用X光单能照相技术获得了内爆靶丸的燃料面密度为（3.2±0.5） mg/cm²。