The Hydrogen Balmer- α Line Profile in RF-Discharge Plasmas

Abstract
The spectral line profiles produced by neutral hydrogen atoms have been measured using a high resolution Fabry-Perot Interferometer. The Hα line 6563 Å is found to have an asymmetric profile in non-magnetized and low density plasmas. The line profile calculated taking into account the fine structure of the Hα line shows a reasonable agreement with the experimental results. The atom temperature obtained from the Doppler broadening is about 0.1 eV.