Determination of electron temperature in low-pressure plasmas by means of optical emission spectroscopy

A simple model, allowing to determine the electron temperature in a steady-state low-pressure plasma, is proposed. The model makes use of optical cross-sections and therefore takes into account direct and cascade excitation from ground and metastable states. Spectroscopic data from Mitic {et al.} (New J. Phys. 11, 083020 (2009)) are used to illustrate the performance of the method.