ADVANCES IN PLASMA BROADENING OF ATOMIC-HYDROGEN

The Stark broadening tables for hydrogen Lyman, Balmer and Paschen lin es published in the early seventies give accurate results for the widt hs of the beta lines down to relatively low electron densities, and fo r the far line wings in general. However, the half-widths of the alpha lines can be in error by as much as a factor of 30, particularly at i ntermediate densities. Modem theoretical methods are capable of produc ing accurate values over the entire density range. Recent developments in the Stark broadening of non-hydrogenic species are also considered .