Editing Plasma diagnostics (section)

===Spectral line ratios===
{{main|Spectral line ratios}}
The brightness of [[atomic spectral line|spectral lines]] emitted by atoms in a plasma depends on the plasma temperature and density.

If a sufficiently complete [[collisional radiative model]] is used, the temperature (and, to a lesser degree, density) of plasmas can often be inferred by taking ratios of the emission intensities of various atomic spectral lines.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-0-521-61941-7| last = Griem| first = Hans R.| title = Principles of Plasma Spectroscopy| location = Cambridge| series = Cambridge Monographs on Plasma Physics| date = 1997| url = https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/principles-of-plasma-spectroscopy/90F6DBB512089B7E3AC121744EFE3D93}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Springer Berlin Heidelberg| isbn = 978-3-642-02232-6| volume = 56| last = Kunze| first = Hans-Joachim| title = Introduction to Plasma Spectroscopy| location = Berlin, Heidelberg| series = Springer Series on Atomic, Optical, and Plasma Physics| date = 2009| doi = 10.1007/978-3-642-02233-3| bibcode = 2009ips..book.....K| url = http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-642-02233-3}}</ref>