Atomic physics in plasma modeling for lighting

Summary form only given, as follows. We discuss the effects of various approximations in atomic physics calculations on plasma modeling. We summarize the procedures we have developed to produce a consistent and complete set of atomic physics data for use in a plasma model. We discuss several approximations used in the atomic data calculations such as distorted wave, first order many body theory, and plane wave Born approaches to cross section calculations. We present some comparisons between experiment and theory for cross sections for electron impact excitation of mercury. We then present model calculations of emission spectra for low temperature mercury plasmas to illustrate the effect of various approximations on an actual plasma model. We also present some similar comparisons for barium.