The temperature measurement of the electrothermal-chemical launcher plasma by atomic emission spectroscopy

The temperatures of electrothermal-chemical launcher plasmas of different capillary sizes and discharge conditions have been measured by atomic emission spectroscopy. The six copper neutral atomic lines of 510.554, 515.324. 521.820, 529.250, 570.020, and 578.213 mm were used. The measured temperatures are between 5670.0 (0.49 eV) and 8230.4 K (0.71 eV). In addition, the effect of the spectroscopic parameters of copper lines, such as the transition probability (A), the statistical weight of the upper level (g), and the energy of the upper level (E/sub i/), on the calculated Bolzmann temperature has been discussed in detail. The results showed, however, that the Boltzmann function has a better linear correlation coefficient, the experimental results have higher reliability, and the accurate measurement of the plasma temperature can be obtained only when the spectroscopic parameters are selected correctly.