Modeling of the spectral line and continuum radiation emitted by hydrogen isotopes in peripheral regions of magnetic fusion is presented through profiles of the Zeeman-Doppler broadened Hα/Dα line and those of the Stark broadened high-n Balmer lines extending beyond the series limit for recombining plasmas. The Hα/Dα line profiles should be modelled while accounting for several populations of neutrals to mimic real situations and analyze experimental data for isotopic ratio determination. On the other side, high-n Balmer lines of hydrogen are used for plasma electron density and temperature diagnostics. Moreover, modelling whole spectra including the continuum radiation contributes to the development of synthetic diagnostics for future magnetic fusion devices for which they can give predictive results through coupling to numerical simulation tools.

Many spectroscopic diagnostics are routinely used as techniques to infer the plasma parameters from line emission spectra, but their accuracy depends on the numerical model or code used for the fitting process. However, the validation of a line shape code requires some steps: the comparison of the line shape code with other similar codes for some academic (simple) cases and then for more complex ones, the comparison of the fitting parameters obtained from the best fit of the experimental spectra with those obtained with other diagnostic techniques, and/or the comparison of the fitting parameters obtained by different codes to fit the same experimental data. Here we compare the profiles of the hydrogen Balmer β line in helium plasma computed by five codes for a selected set of plasma parameters and we report on the plasma parameters inferred by each of them from the fitting to a number of experimental spectra measured in a helium corona discharge where the pressure was in the range of 1–5 bars.

Passive plasma spectroscopy is a well-established non-intrusive diagnostic technique. Depending on the emitter and its environment which determine the dominant interactions and effects governing emission line shapes, passive spectroscopy allows the determination of electron densities, emitter and perturber temperatures, as well as other quantities like relative abundances. However, using spectroscopy requires appropriate line shape codes retaining all the physical effects governing the emission line profiles. This is required for line shape code developers to continuously correct or improve them to increase their accuracy when applied for diagnostics. This is exactly the aim expected from code–code and code–data comparisons. In this context, the He i 492 nm line emitted in a helium corona discharge at room temperature represents an ideal case since its profile results from several broadening mechanisms: Stark, Doppler, resonance, and van der Waals. The importance of each broadening mechanism depends on the plasma parameters. Here the profiles of the He i 492 nm in a helium plasma computed by various codes are compared for a selected set of plasma parameters. In addition, preliminary results related to plasma parameter determination using an experimental spectrum from a helium corona discharge at atmospheric pressure, are presented.