EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF STARK BROADENING IN HALPHA

The profiles of the Balmer lines H and H, emitted in a vortex-cooled hydrogen arc, were measured over a temperature range of (1.0-1.6) × 104°K and an electron density range of (0.6-1.6) × 1017 cm-3. The observed H profiles are compared with the recent theoretical calculations of Kepple and Griem (from which the electron densities were inferred via the H half-widths), and those of Bacon and Edwards. The experimental and theoretical profiles are found to agree within their respective uncertainties although systematic differences are observed. © 1969 The American Physical Society.