Hanle effect as candidate for measuring magnetic fields in laboratory plasmas.

Weak or turbulent magnetic fields are generally difficult to measure in laboratory plasmas. A new technique to address this problem may be based on the Hanle effect, used for magnetic field measurements in solar and stellar atmospheres. The effect consists in the modification of the polarization state of the resonance-line scattered radiation. It applies for magnetic field strengths for which the shift of magnetic sublevels remains comparable to the natural width of the sublevels. Experimental configurations and parameter ranges of applicability of a Hanle effect-based diagnostics technique are discussed.