title: Method to estimate the electron temperature and neutral density in a plasma from spectroscopic measurements using argon atom and ion collisional-radiative models.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Ella M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Sciamma
authors.forename: Roger D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Bengtson
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Rowan
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keesee
authors.forename: Charles A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Berisford
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Gentle