Spectra of Helium Gas Discharges

Spectra of Helium Gas Discharge

The following image is color coded spectra of helium undergoing electrical discharge excitation.

It is computed and plotted in your browser by a Java program which reads a file containing a list of emission line wavelengths and their corresponding strenghts.

Note: This program generates deep 24 bit color plots, therefore you may need to increase the color depth of your system to view subtle details in these spectra.

There may be a small delay as each Applet loads it's element emission line file and computes the spectra...

Helium

Your browser doesn't support Java.
Here is a lower quality jpeg of the spectra:

Both neutral and singly ionized helium contribute to the emission lines in this spectrum.
Different trial parameters :

vary the lineWidth from 1 to 4 (2.5 is optimum)
vary the contrast from 1 to 15 (10 is optimum)
vary the continuum from 0 to 0.7 (0.3 is optimum)

Helium Spectra in Two Parts:

from 4000 to 5500 Ångstroms

and from 5500 to 7000 Ångstroms

Return to element spectra page.