A laser‐induced fluorescence measurement technique for obtaining neutral hydrogen densities in plasmas

The resonance fluorescence of neutral hydrogen illuminated by H α radiation has been used as a technique for the spatially and temporally resolved density measurements of neutral hydrogen in high temperature plasmas, such as in the tokamak and magnetic mirror plasma fusion devices. The fluorescence signal, usually very weak and buried in the background of stray laser light and H α emission, is very difficult to extract and its measurements are inaccurate. This paper discusses the improvement of the signal extraction using two optical path laser‐induced fluorescence (LIF) methods. One optical path carries the fluorescence signal and the background (the stray laser light and H α emission), whereas the other path carries only the background signal. By combining these two signals, a clean fluorescence signal can be isolated by subtracting out the background using a differential amplifier. The measurement is obtained instantaneously from these two signals which are taken simultaneously in one pulse rather than being extracted from two separate spectra taken in two sequential pulses (double pulses). This method, therefore, makes a significant improvement on the double pulse technique in terms of the accuracy of the measurement and the time resolution. Using this LIF technique the measurement of the neutral density profile in the exhaust of a tandem mirror plasma propulsion device is obtained and presented.