The widths and shapes of about 350 prominent lines of 65 elements emitted by an inductively coupled plasma

Abstract

This work describes the measurement of the widths and shapes of about 350 prominent lines of 65 elements emitted by an inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The experimental procedure is an improved version of an earlier described approach using a 1.5-m echelle monochromator with predisperser. For most measurements the practical spectral bandwidth was smaller than 1.5 times the physical line width. Results are reported for both simple lines with chiefly Doppler broadening and complex structures with unresolved or partly resolved hyperfine structure (HFS). An atlas with the spectral scans of about 90 interesting line profiles is included and wavelengths of HFS components are tabulated. The latter were accurately determined in the case of well resolved structures and roughly estimated for poorly resolved or unresolved structures. The data were collected chiefly with a view to spectrochemical analysis, with a threefold aim: (a) to provide the basic data needed for comparing detection limits obtained with spectroscopic apparatus of different bandwidths; (b) to identify HFS components which, under high resolution conditions, may be useful as separate prominent lines in order to circumvent spectral interference and (c) to establish a basis for models that can be used in software for line selection such that the number of data needed in view of differences among line shapes and widths can be reduced to a minimum. It appears from the results that these targets are closely approached. Further work is required, however, for the full implementation of the results.