Characterization of an argon plasma jet by the imagery method

The imagery method is used to detect the radiation flux emitted by an optically thin argon plasma jet at atmospheric pressure and high temperatures, after assuming conditions of local thermodynamic equilibrium in the continuum field. Quantitative agreement is observed by comparing the results of the imagery method with those from a multichannel optical detector. Abel inversion is programmed to convert the intensity measured by both methods to the volumetric emissivity of the argon plasma jet. The results presented in the form of intensity and volumetric emissivity show that the imagery method remains a good way of characterizing an argon plasma jet.