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.