A software package for rigorously calculating optical plasma spectra and automatically retrieving plasma properties

Abstract

In this article, a software package code named OPSIAL (Optical Plasma Spectral Calculation And Parameters Retrieval) for rigorously calculating optical plasma spectra and for automatically retrieving plasma parameters is presented. OPSIAL calculates the absolute spectral radiance caused by the bound-bound transitions of elemental species in the plasma by rigorously solving the equation of radiative transfer using an ultrafast lineby-line algorithm. OPSIAL supports both the local-thermodynamic-equilibrium (LTE) or partial LTE conditions and takes account of line broadenings due to the Doppler effect and collisions with electrons and other pseudo colliders in the plasma. An algorithm for fully automatically identifying elemental species and retrieving plasma parameters based on observed plasma emission spectra has been implemented into OPSIAL. The structure and theoretical framework of OPSIAL, together with a case study of using OPSIAL to analyze laser-induced breakdown spectral data of the ChemCam instrument onboard the Mars rover Curiosity, are presented.

Cu/W Electrode Ablation and Its Influence on Free-Burning Arcs in SF₆ Alternatives

“…To obtain useful estimates for the arc temperature and composition from the measured spectra, fits were performed with OPSIAL, an open-source software tool for generating simulated plasma spectra [9]. The use of these simulated spectra allowed for quantitative comparisons over a wider range of conditions and a larger number of measurements than would be feasible with more analytically intensive techniques.…”