Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. (2021) 230: 3881-3887
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-021-00328-1

Regular Article

Power spectral fractalysis: a surrogate method for laser-induced plasma temperature analysis

Department of Optoelectronics, University of Kerala, 695581, Trivandrum, Kerala, India

^a drssraman@gmail.com

Received: 29 August 2021
Accepted: 30 October 2021
Published online: 16 November 2021

Abstract

The paper deciphers the potential of fractal analysis in unveiling the complex plasma dynamics. The light from copper plasma is focused on the slit of a spectrometer, and the spectral variations across the slit are analysed. The plasma temperature (T) computed from the spectrum at various spatial points of the slit also exhibits a variation similar to that of power spectral fractal dimension ($D_{\text{p}})$. The study reveals a strong correlation between T and $D_{\text{p}}$, reflecting the complex dynamics and the compositional anisotropy in plasma. At the plasma core, where the temperature is the highest, and the matter is in the ionised state, the $D_{\text{p}}$ is high, and the lower temperature regions show a lower $D_{\text{p}}$ value. The fractalysis helps analyse plasma temperature without knowing transition probability and the energy of the upper-level corresponding to each value of wavelength. Thus, the power spectral fractalysis can be considered a surrogate method for understanding the plasma temperature and the particle dynamics involved.