The two-photon excitation cross-section is a key parameter for the two-photon absorption laser induced fluorescence (TALIF) method, which is commonly used to measure atomic densities in gaseous media, especially for plasma diagnostics. The method consists in recording the fluorescence signal that follows the resonant absorption of two photons of UV light. Calibration often relies on comparing the signal recorded in the studied sample with the fluorescence produced, at a similar wavelength, in a noble gas vapor, the density of which can be easily known. The ratio of the involved cross-sections however plays an essential role for the accuracy of such measurements. Yet the two-photon excitation cross-section of atomic xenon, which is often used as the reference for oxygen density measurements, was measured only once, at the wavelengths of interest. The aim of the present study has been to consolidate the experimental value of that key parameter. The cross-section is found equal to 1.36 +0.46 −0.34 and 1.88 +0.75 −0.54 × 10 −43 m 4 for the 6p [3/2] 2 and 6p [1/2] 0 levels, respectively. For the 6p [3/2] 2 level this is more than twice smaller than previously admitted. Even though the necessarily large relative uncertainty of a non-linear crosssection attaches a relatively large uncertainty to this factor of one half, the result suggests that atomic densities already measured by Xe-calibrated TALIF may have to be revised to significantly lower values. The experiments performed also provide an opportunity to revisit the validity of the approximations used for quantitative TALIF measurements and the collisional broadening and pressure shift of the two-photon 6p [1/2] 0 line. A new formula has been used to describe the two-photon absorption of a Gaussian beam in a long gas cell, which makes the decrease of the beam intensity a simple analytic expression even in strong absorption regime, based on a polylogarithmic function of the absorption rate variable.

This paper investigates iodine as an alternative propellant for space plasma propulsion. Measurements are taken in a low-pressure inductively-coupled plasma chamber used as the ionisation stage of a gridded ion-engine. Langmuir probes are used to measure the electron density and the electron energy distribution functions spatial variations between the inductive coil and the extraction grids for several radiofrequency (RF) powers and mass flow rates. Measurements in iodine are compared to xenon, krypton and argon in order to evaluate performances of these various propellants for ionization (and therefore power) efficiency. At low mass flow rates, iodine is found to be the most efficient propellant, however, as the mass flow rate increases, the ionization cost in iodine increases rapidly due to both its molecular and electronegative nature. The ratio of negative ion to electron density is measured using laser-induced photodetachment in order to quantify the effect of iodine electronegativity. Finally, all measurements are compared to a previously published global (volume-averaged) model. The agreement between model and experiments is acceptable, however several modelling improvements are proposed.