This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Stark Broadening of Spectral Lines in Plasmas" that was published in Atoms

The Stark broadening of spectral lines in plasmas belongs to the highest level of plasma spectroscopy and is consequently its most complicated subject. This book presents analytical advances into this problem, thus yielding a physical insight.

Spectral Line Broadening by Plasmas deals with spectral line broadening by plasmas and covers topics ranging from quasi-static approximation and impact approximation to intermediate approximations and correlation effects. Experimental results for hydrogen lines, lines with forbidden components, and ionized helium lines are presented. Applications such as density and temperature measurements are also considered. Comprised of four chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the effects of electric fields from electrons and ions (both acting as point charges) on spectral line shapes. The next chapter surveys theoretical work, paying particular attention to quasi-static, impact, and intermediate approximations as well as correlation effects. Stark broadening experiments are then discussed, with special emphasis on experiments capable of checking the accuracy or validity limits of the various approximations. The final chapter is devoted to applications in laboratory plasma physics and astronomy, focusing on density and temperature measurements and opacity calculations as well as the analysis of stellar atmospheres, amplitudes and spectra of plasma waves, and radio frequency lines. This book should appeal to students, practitioners, and researchers in pure and applied physics.

Although based on lectures given for graduate students and postgraduates starting in plasma physics, this concise introduction to the fundamental processes and tools is as well directed at established researchers who are newcomers to spectroscopy and seek quick access to the diagnostics of plasmas ranging from low- to high-density technical systems at low temperatures, as well as from low- to high-density hot plasmas. Basic ideas and fundamental concepts are introduced as well as typical instrumentation from the X-ray to the infrared spectral regions. Examples, techniques and methods illustrate the possibilities. This book directly addresses the experimentalist who actually has to carry out the experiments and their interpretation. For that reason about half of the book is devoted to experimental problems, the instrumentation, components, detectors and calibration.

This book focuses on the characteristics of optical radiation, or a spectrum, emitted by various plasmas. In plasma, the same atomic species can produce quite different spectra, or colours, depending on the nature of the plasma. This book gives a theoretical framework by which a particular spectrum can be interpreted correctly and coherently. The uniqueness of the book lies in its comprehensive treatment of the intensity distribution of spectral lines and the population density distribution among the atomic levels in plasmas. It is intended to provide beginners with a good perspective of the field, laying out the physics in an extremely clear manner and starting from an elementary level. A useful feature of the book is the asterisked sections and chapters which can be skipped by readers who only wish to gain a quick and basic introduction to plasma spectroscopy. It will also be useful to researchers working actively in the field, acting as a guide for carrying out experiments and interpreting experimental observations.

Comprises a comprehensive reference source that unifies the entire fields of atomic molecular and optical (AMO) physics, assembling the principal ideas, techniques and results of the field. 92 chapters written by about 120 authors present the principal ideas, techniques and results of the field, together with a guide to the primary research literature (carefully edited to ensure a uniform coverage and style, with extensive cross-references). Along with a summary of key ideas, techniques, and results, many chapters offer diagrams of apparatus, graphs, and tables of data. From atomic spectroscopy to applications in comets, one finds contributions from over 100 authors, all leaders in their respective disciplines. Substantially updated and expanded since the original 1996 edition, it now contains several entirely new chapters covering current areas of great research interest that barely existed in 1996, such as Bose-Einstein condensation, quantum information, and cosmological variations of the fundamental constants. A fully-searchable CD- ROM version of the contents accompanies the handbook.

This is a comprehensive description of the theoretical foundations and experimental applications of spectroscopic methods in plasma physics research. It introduces the classical and quantum theory of radiation, with detailed descriptions of line strengths and high density effects, and describes theoretical and experimental aspects of spectral line broadening. The book illustrates the concepts of continuous spectra, level kinetics and cross sections, thermodynamic equilibrium relations, radiative energy transfer, and radiative energy losses. The basics of plasma spectroscopy to density and temperature measurements and to the determination of some other plasma properties are also explored. Over one thousand references not only guide the reader to original research covered in the chapters, but also to experimental details and instrumentation.

Nearly all of this book is taken from an article prepared for a volume of the Encyclopedia of Physics. This article, in turn, is partly based on Dr. Norbert Rosenzweig's translation of an older article on the same subject, written by one of us (H.A.B.) about 25 years ago for the Geiger-Scheel Handbuch der Physik. To the article written last year we have added some Addenda and Errata. These Addenda and Errata refer back to some of the 79 sections of the main text and contain some misprint corrections, additional references and some notes. The aim of this book is two-fold. First, to act as a reference work on calcu lations pertaining to hydrogen-like and helium-like atoms and their comparison with experiments. However, these calculations involve a vast array of approximation methods, mathematical tricks and physical pictures, which are also useful in the application of quantum mechanics to other fields. In many sections we have given more general discussions of the methods and physical ideas than is necessary for the study of the H- and He-atom alone. We hope that this book will thus at least partly fulfill its second aim, namely to be of some use to graduate students who wish to learn "applied quantum mechanics". A basic knowledge of the principles of quantum mechanics, such as given in the early chapters of Schiff's or Bohm's book, is presupposed.

This is the first comprehensive reference explaining the fundamentals of the LIBS phenomenon, its history and its fascinating applications across eighteen chapters written by recognized leaders in the field. This book will be of significant interest to researchers in chemical and materials analysis within academia and industry.