Collisional-Radiative Model for Spectroscopic Diagnostic of Optically Thick Helium Plasma

Abstract

We have included the effect of radiation trapping in a collisional-radiative model of neutral helium atoms developed by Goto [M. Goto, JQSRT 76, 331 (2003)], which is used to determine the electron temperature and density in plasmas from visible emission line intensities of atoms. In addition to the electron temperature and density, photo-excitation events from the ground state 1¹S to the 2¹P, 3¹P, and 4¹P states per second per one atom are treated as fitting parameters to reproduce the population density obtained by spectroscopic measurement. The model has been applied to an RF plasma at Shinshu University, Japan. The electron temperature and density and the contribution of radiation trapping to the population density of excited states are evaluated.