Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 July 2011
Gaseous Helium at 300 K and pressure (0.1–3) MPa was excited using a corona discharge both for negative and positive high voltages. The light emitted from the ionization zone of the discharge was analyzed. Asymmetric shape of atomic lines 706 nm and 728 nm was recorded. Blue wings of the lines are more intensive than their red wings. The line shape is described as a convolution of Lorentz profile of the line center and a quasi-statistical profile of a blue wing of the line. Such analysis predicts no heating of the gas in the ionization zone for positive corona and considerable heating for negative corona.