Depletion of atomic hydrogen in a high power helicon discharge

Depletion of the ground state atomic hydrogen density has been directly measured using two-photon laser-induced fluorescence in a high-density helicon plasma. The depletion is correlated with the plasma pressure becoming increasingly higher than the neutral gas fill pressure. Spatially resolved measurements show depletion of atomic hydrogen in the centre of the discharge chamber. Temporally resolved measurements display a replenishment of atomic hydrogen in the plasma afterglow at high plasma densities in comparison to the typical two-step decay at lower plasma densities.