Transient conditions in inductively heated plasmas: thermodynamic equilibrium and temperature measurements

Abstract

A study has been made on transient extinction conditions in an inductively heated argon plasma. It was observed that local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) conditions do exist between the metastable 3P2 level and upper energy levels, so that during the decay time it is possible to determine a meaningful temperature, using the 3P2 level as a fundamental level and the partition functions being calculated accordingly. Together with the temperature determination, a concentration distribution of argon metastables was obtained.Studies of this type are useful for the investigation of quenching processes in plasmas, affecting favorably chemical reactions or solid–gas interactions, thus leading to enhanced catalytic effects or modifications of solid particle structures which are liable to generate new electrical, thermal, etc. properties of interest.