Popis: |
A useful plasma diagnostic is the measurement of electron number density. One way to accomplish such measurements is to determine the contribution to the broadening of a spectral line due to the Stark effect. To simplify and extend such electron density measurements across computer platforms, a program that calculates electron number density from the Stark-broadened hydrogen-beta line has been written for the LabVIEW® environment. This program calculates electron number densities from the field strength that would be exerted on a hydrogen atom immersed in a plasma. Using the new program, the electron number density in a glow discharge is calculated for two different operating conditions. Not surprisingly, the results indicate that to increase the current density in the discharge, the source electrodes must be reduced in surface area. This article is an electronic publication in Spectrochimica Acta Electronica (SAE), the electronic section of Spectrochimica Acta Part B (SAB). The hardcopy text is accompanied by one disk with an executable program (written for Apple Macintosh), data and text files including a manual. |