A quantitative study of the role of molecular impurities in the emission spectroscopy of He I in pulsed discharges

Abstract
The intensities of He2 and H2 lines relative to He I line intensities have been measured as functions of the discharge parameters in a pulsed experiment. Numerical calculations show that the plasma behaviour is well understood and all relevant processes are known. An extrapolation of the measured data allows one to define parameter ranges where molecular emission is so weak that spectroscopic techniques involving the evaluation of He I line profiles (e.g. high-frequency Stark effect measurements) may be used without special precautions.