%0 Journal Article %A Pawelec, E. %A Ksiazek, I. %D 2006 %I Begell House %N 1 %P 33-38 %R 10.1615/HighTempMatProc.v10.i1.30 %T Radial and axial distributions of the electron density and temperature in a cascade arc plasma %U https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/57d172397126f956,6879d9fc1413e975,2624f5a5446df48e.html %V 10 %X Plasmas produced with cascade arcs at atmospheric pressure are supposedly in a state of local thermal equilibrium, or close to it. If we exclude near-electrode regions, the arc can be described as being cylindrically symmetric. In one-component plasmas, the uniformity of the plasma column along the arc axis can also be assumed. In many-component plasmas, due to the demixing effect there are spatial nonuniformities in the plasma composition. Gradients of plasma composition are connected with the gradients in other plasma parameters -temperature and electron density.
In the experiment described in this paper, the plasma gas consisted mainly of helium, with additions of argon. Registration of the spectrum was performed in a side-on configuration, measuring the light emitted by the plasma between arc segments, emerging through slits in the separating insulating rings. The electron density profiles were calculated from measured Hα linewidths. %8 2006-03-01