About the measurement of electric field and electron temperature by the spectroscopic method in a gas mixture

Abstract

The paper is dedicated to the advance of the spectroscopic method for measuring the electric fields and electron temperatures in a mixture of inert gases with significantly different excitation and ionization potentials. The method based on the measurement of the ratio of the spectral line intensities was applied to the Ne–Kr discharge. Plasma parameters were evaluated based on the solution of the non-local Boltzmann kinetic equation for the Ne–Kr mixture at low pressures and currents. Electric fields and electron temperatures were obtained as functions of the discharge current, total gas pressure, and density of the Kr admixture. The discharge current varied in the range from 1 to 5 mA, the pressure from 0.27 to 1 Torr, and the Kr admixture from 0.5% to 11% from the total gas pressure. The results demonstrate the possibility of using the described technique for diagnostics of dusty plasmas and other plasma objects operating on gas mixtures with significantly different excitation and ionization potentials.