Simultaneous relative radiances of the Hβ, Hγ, and Hδ spectral lines of hydrogen were measured sequentially at various lateral positions in an inductively coupled rf argon-hydrogen plasma operated at atmospheric pressure (12 kW, 9 MHz). Measurements to take self-absorption into account were also performed. By applying an Abel integral inversion, a radial radiance profile for each line was obtained. With the two-line temperature method, simultaneous temperature profiles were obtained from each of the three line-pairs. The difference between these three sets of values and the negative values obtained for the Hγ, Hδ pair indicates that thermal equilibrium does not exist in this plasma.
