Method to determine argon metastable number density and plasma electron temperature from spectral emission originating from four 4p argon levels

TL;DR

This paper introduces a straightforward spectral emission-based method to determine argon metastable densities and electron temperature in plasmas, using only four emission lines and assuming a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.

Contribution

It presents a simple, experimentally accessible model for plasma diagnostics applicable to argon-containing microplasmas, expanding diagnostic capabilities in this emerging field.

Findings

Effective for laboratory argon plasmas

Applicable to atmospheric microplasmas

Requires only four spectral lines

Abstract

A simple model and method is proposed here to determine argon metastable number densities and electron temperature with the assumption of a Maxwell-Boltzmann electron energy distribution. This method is based on the availability of experimental relative emission intensities of only four argon lines that originate from any of the 4p argon levels. The proposed model has a relatively wide range of validity for laboratory plasmas that contain argon gas and can be a valuable tool for the emerging field of atmospheric microplasmas, for which diagnostics is still limited.