Plasma diagnostics in high-pressure light sources

Summary form only given, as follows. Diagnostic techniques (emission and absorption spectroscopy, laser techniques, and holographic interferometry) and the limits of their applicability in high-pressure light sources are examined. Emphasis is placed on the use of these techniques for the study of the departures from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) in plasma light sources containing mercury at a partial pressure of several bars and metal halide compounds with a partial pressure of several millibars. The principal shortcomings in the understanding of the LTE-deviation mechanisms have been considered.