John B Boffard 1, Chun C Lin 1 and Charles A DeJoseph Jr 2
1
Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, 1150 University Ave., Madison WI, 53706, USA
2
Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, USA
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics Create an alert RSS this journal
John B Boffard et al 2004 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 37 R143
Many optical-based plasma diagnostic techniques require electron-impact excitation cross sections. In recent years, a considerable number of new results have become available for excitation of rare-gas atoms from both the ground state and metastable states. Using relatively simple techniques these cross sections can be combined with plasma emission measurements to extract many useful plasma parameters such as the electron temperature. Many of the limitations of simple plasma emission models such as the corona model can be overcome by using cross section measurements to select what particular emission lines to use in the analysis.
52.70.Kz Optical (ultraviolet, visible, infrared) measurements
34.80.Dp Atomic excitation and ionization
Issue 12 (21 June 2004)
Received 8 March 2004
Published 26 May 2004
John B Boffard et al 2004 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 37 R143