Emission and absorption spectroscopy study of Ar excited states in 13.56 MHz argon plasma operating at sub-atmospheric to atmospheric pressure

•Strong non-equilibrium distribution of Ar 2p levels is observed.•The absolute number density of non-radiative Ar 1s states is determined by the easier and low cost spectral-lamp absorption method.•The modified absorption theory of Mitchell and Zemanski was used to obtain the absolute number density of Ar 1s states at high pressure.•The developed RF source with 5 cm long gap can be a possible alternative to micro-plasma working in Ar at atmospheric pressure.

The densities of metastable and resonant states of Ar atoms are measured in high pressure Ar radio frequency discharge. Resonant absorption spectroscopy for the case of a low pressure spectral lamp and high-pressure plasma absorption lines is implemented for this purpose. The necessary generalizations for the high-pressure resonant absorption method are given. Absolute density of Ar 1s levels obtained at different RF input power and operating pressures are of the order of 1011 cm− 3, which is in a good agreement with those reported in the literature. The population distribution on the Ar 2p (excited) levels, obtained from the optical emission spectroscopy, reveals strong deviation from thermal equilibrium for these levels in the high-pressure case. The generation of the Ar excited states in the studied discharges is compared to the previously reported results.