Application of laser-induced plasma spectroscopy to the measurement of Stark broadening parameters

In this work, we have studied the main conditions that a laser-induced plasma must fulfill in order to be considered as adequate for the measurement of Stark broadening parameters. We investigated the effect of the temporal window, the self-absorption, the crater size, and the effect of the spatial inhomogeneity on the emission profiles coming from a laser-induced plasma. Starting from the spatially resolved values of the plasma parameters, obtained by emission spectroscopy, the error in the determination of the Stark electron width due to the spatial inhomogeneity has been estimated and, for the present experimental conditions, was found to be lower than 7%. As a test of the method, the Stark electron broadening constant of Fe I 381.58 nm has been measured using the Fe I 538.34 nm emission line as the reference to determine the electron density. The plasma was produced under a controlled atmosphere of argon at atmospheric pressure, on an iron-nickel alloy sample. The emission was collected by a system with high spectral resolution, for different temporal windows after the laser pulse. For time delays between 2.75 and 21 mu s, the electron density showed an evolution in the range 2.0-0.13 x 10(17) cm(-3), while the temperature varied from 11100 to 7100 K. The representation of the Stark electron width of Fe I 381.58 nm, measured for each temporal window, versus the Stark electron width of the reference line showed a linear behavior with a high correlation coefficient. From the slope of this linear fit and the Stark electron broadening constant of the reference line, the Stark width of Fe 1 381.58 nm was obtained to be 1.10 +/- 0.07 x 10(-2) nm for an electron density of 10(17) cm(-3) (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.