Current characteristics of barrier discharges in inert gases (Ar, Kr, Xe)

The current characteristics of barrier discharges in inert gases (Xe, Kr, and Ar) are compared. It is shown that the shape of the current curve (the number of peaks and their amplitudes) depends on the kind of gas (breakdown voltage) and the frequency of the sinusoidal supply voltage; as the frequen...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics and spectroscopy 2009-05, Vol.106 (5), p.642-646
Main Authors: Volkova, G. A., Zvereva, G. N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Lasers
Optical Devices
Optics
Photonics
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Spectroscopy of Atoms and Molecules
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The current characteristics of barrier discharges in inert gases (Xe, Kr, and Ar) are compared. It is shown that the shape of the current curve (the number of peaks and their amplitudes) depends on the kind of gas (breakdown voltage) and the frequency of the sinusoidal supply voltage; as the frequency of the voltage decreases, the number of breakdowns tends to increase. It is found that, under the experimental conditions ( P = 300 Torr, d = 4 mm), the amplitude of the discharge current in Xe is two to three times higher, its time is tenfold shorter, and the diameter of the discharge channel is five to ten times smaller compared to other inert gases. These differences can be explained by a considerable difference of the transfer coefficients in Xe from those in Ar and Kr.
ISSN:0030-400X
1562-6911
DOI:10.1134/S0030400X09050038