Electron density diagnostic potential of Ar XIV soft X-ray emission lines

Abstract

Theoretical electron density-sensitive line ratios $R_1 - R_6$ of Ar XIV soft X-ray emission lines are presented. We found that these line ratios are sensitive to electron density $n_e$, and the ratio $R_1$ is insensitive to electron temperature $T_e$. Recent work has shown that accurate atomic data, such as electron impact excitation rates, is very important for reliable determination of the electron density of laboratory and astrophysical plasmas. Present work indicates that the maximum discrepancy of line ratios introduced from different atomic data calculated with distorted wave and R-matrix approximations, is up to 18% in the range of $n_e=10^{9-13}$cm$^{-3}$. By comparison of these line ratios with experiment results carried out in electron beam ion trap (EBIT-II), electron density of the laboratory plasma is diagnosed, and a consistent result is obtained from $R_1$, $R_2$ and $R_3$. Our result is in agreement with that diagnosed by Chen et al using triplet of N VI. A relative higher diagnosed electron density from $R_2$ is due to its weak sensitivity to electron temperature. A better consistency at lower $T_e$ indicates that temperature of the laboratory plasma is lower than log$T_e$(K)=6.5. Comparison between the measured and theoretical ratios reveals that 32.014~Åline is weakly blended by lines from other Ar ions, while 30.344~Åline is strongly contaminated.