A continuous wave tunable dye laser, operating with a broadband (0.5 Å bandwidth) or with a locked single mode output (10-4 Å bandwidth) was used to investigate the local density and velocity distribution of sodium metal neutrals present in a magnetically confined laser produced sodium metal plasma. With the broadband input, the intensity of fluorescence is proportional to the local neutral density. From the temporal evolution of this quantity, it is possible to evaluate the importance of resonance charge exchange in establishing ion energy balance, and also the effectiveness of the limiters in retaining neutralized ions. With the locked single mode input, the structure of the velocity distribution is accessible. Specifically, when the plasma is seeded with additional sodium neutrals from an external oven source, the charge exchange products achieve sufficient concentration for the neutral Doppler profile to acquire recognizable wings. The ion temperature is readily obtained from the width of these wings. © 1979 American Institute of Physics.