A Miniaturized XeCl Dielectric Barrier Discharge as a Source of Short Lived, Fast Decaying UV Radiation

A dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) of coaxial geometry has been examined as source of intensive, short-lived UV radiation. A binary gas mixture consisting of 98% Xe + 2% Cl-2 and a ternary composition of 96% Ne + 6% Xe + 0.2% HCl were investigated in the pressure range between 10 and 750 mbar. The discharge was excited by unipolar high voltage square pulses with amplitudes of 3 to 7 kV at a repetition rate of 100 Hz. UV radiation intensity is increased by combining 5 square pulses with a period of 1 mu s each in one train (burst). Radiation decay on three orders of magnitude within 10 mu s was obtained for both gas mixtures in burst mode. Maximum energy of the light pulse was the same for both gas mixtures and estimated as 40 nJ. It is shown that the optimum gas pressure for highest radiation intensity depends not only on gas composition but also on applied voltage and number of pulses in the train. A variation of the spectral band shape of XeCl emission during the pulse is detected. (C) 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim