Examination of low temperature argon plasma by optical emission spectroscopy and comparison with Paschen’s curve.

Abstract

In this experiment we studied argon plasma at room temperature by varying the voltage and pressure of a plasma chamber for ten different samples. Our experimental measurements aligned with the theoretical optical emission spectrum for Argon plasma, with a small peak at 400 nm from the air in the system and outside tube discharges, and large peaks between 650-950 nm for the argon plasma. We also found relatively similar results to Paschen’s curve but had an insufficient amount of data to make any thoughtful curve fits or conclusions.