Temperature determination from self reversed resonance lines

This paper investigates self-reversed resonance lines observed in spatially inhomogeneous plasma layers. A new method is suggested which takes advantage of both the Bartels method and Karabourniotis method mentioned here. It is based on an analysis of the spectral line contour around the self-reversal maxima in the framework of Cowan and Dieke's approach considering Bartels' general analysis of the emissivity. It is shown that the relative line contour around the self-reversal maxima contains enough information to determine the degree of spatial inhomogeneity of the source function of the plasma layer. Particularly, this information can be determined from resonance lines providing a proper tool for temperature measurements with these lines.