Comparison between ICPs and MIPs in Terms of Excitation Mechanism and Deviation from LTE
✍ Scribed by Mao Huang
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 82 KB
- Volume
- 53
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0026-265X
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✦ Synopsis
It is suggested that plasma forming and heating processes determine the plasma mode in which partially ionized discharges such as ICPs and MIPs should remain. In turn, the plasma mode, either ionizing or recombining, dictates the ionization and excitation mechanisms in the source, as well as how the plasma deviates from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). It is shown that ICPs, due to relatively high electron number density, are excellent excitation sources for most metallic elements; on the other hand, owing to their extremely high electron temperature and substantial number of high energy electrons, MIPs are able to ionize or excite most nonmetallic elements efficiently. A detailed comparison between ICPs and MIPs is given concerning fundamental physical parameters, energy transfer, excitation mechanism, deviation from LTE, and analytical characteristics.