A theoretical study and experimental investigation of non-LTE phenomena in an inductively-coupled argon plasma-I. Characterization of the discharge

In the past considerable attention has been paid to the problem or explaining analyte and argon excitation in inductively-coupled plasmas. Deviations from Local Thermal Equilibrium (LTE) have been frequently reported. In this paper a theoretical framework is constructed to explain quantitatively analyte and argon excited level densities. An essentially new description of the discharge is proposed in terms of partial LTE and the saturation regime. Models and their applications to an ICP discharge are thoroughly discussed and compared with former LTE models