Measurement of the Stark broadening for several lines of singly ionized gold

The Stark broadening parameters of 26 lines of Au II have been measured in a plasma produced by ablation of a gold target with a Nd:YAG laser. In order to obtain suitable experimental conditions for the homogeneity and stability of the plasma, a study of the temporal plasma evolution in helium, argon and nitrogen at different pressures was made. The broadening parameters were obtained with the gold target placed in molecular argon at 6.5 Torr, which provides appropriate measurement conditions. A Boltzmann plot was used to obtain the plasma temperature [16200 +/- 1400 K] and by means of the Saha equation the electron density [(1.45 +/- 0.23) x 10(17) cm(-3)] and the plasma composition were determined. The local thermodynamic equilibrium condition was checked. Contributions to broadening arising from a mechanism different from the Stark broadening as well as self-absorption influence were estimated for every studied line.