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A laser interferometric method for electron concentration measurements in stabilized plasmas
Author(s) -
Meubus Paul,
Fortin Marc
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.5450490615
Subject(s) - interferometry , plasma , laser , electron , ionization , atomic physics , argon , materials science , optics , electron density , plasma diagnostics , physics , ion , quantum mechanics
This work presents an interferometric means for measuring electron concentrations between 10 12 and 10 16 electrons per cm 3 in a stabilized ionized medium and an Argon plasma is used to illustrate the method. The interferometer is a 100 mW He‐Ne laser emitting at 6,328 Å and 3.39 microns and a movable mirror is used to obtain the interferometric fringes required for calculation of the electron concenrations in the plasma The method uses the interesting feature of the He‐Ne laser that both emissions at 6,328 Å and 3.39 microns originate at the same upper level so that variations in the 3.39 microns emission modulate the visible light (6,328 Å) output. This property has been used by a number of authors for measurements on plasmas in transient conditions; this paper presents an application of the method for stabilized plasmas, thus broadening the field of application