Modified branching ratio method for absolute intensity calibration in VUV spectroscopy

A new modified branching ratio (MBR) method for the absolute intensity calibration of a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) spectrometer is presented. The spectrometer is equipped with a multichannel detector, consisting of an open microchannel plate coupled to a charge-coupled device (CCD), or with a single channel photomultiplier. This technique extends the number of calibration points available from those provided by the branching ratio (BR) calibration technique. The MBR method is a variation of the conventional BR method, where we relax the condition that the two spectral emissions, in the visible and VUV spectra, come from the same excited level, to include transitions from different sublevels of the same energy level. However, a critical study of the statistical equilibrium of sublevels from the same ion energy level was necessary. As a result, we have more than doubled the number of calibration points for our spectrometer used in tokamak plasma diagnostics. The appropriate identification of new spectral line pairs for absolute calibration here presented opens the path for future works in other devices with similar plasma conditions or impurities content.