Enhanced performance of a dielectric barrier discharge lamp using short-pulsed excitation

Abstract

We observe marked increases in the time-averaged intensity, peak intensity, efficiency and spectral purity of the VUV output from an Xe excimer barrier discharge lamp when using short-pulse (~150 ns FWHM (full width half maximum)) excitation. Intensity increases with Xe pressure up to 600 Torr with a maximum output 2.6 times higher and an efficiency 3.2 times higher than the same lamp excited by conventional ac excitation (i.e. sinusoidal voltage waveform). The output occurs in regular short pulses (<300 ns FWHM) with a peak intensity more than six times the peak intensity typically obtained using ac. The spectral characteristics are similar to that observed using ac excitation except that the ratio of VUV to visible Xe* emission increases by a factor of three. The pulsed discharge appears diffuse (i.e. glow-like), even at the higher pressures at which the ac discharge is filamentary. It is concluded that the enhanced performance results largely from the ability for pulsed excitation to generate a discharge at near atmospheric pressures with a much lower electron density than that possible using ac.

Electric and spectroscopic analysis of a pure nitrogen mono-filamentary dielectric barrier discharge (MF-DBD) at 760 Torr

“…Rare gas DBDs can be used for excilamps Boyd I W 2000, Boichenko A M et al 2004], mercury-free lamps [Jinno et al 2005], for oxidation of silicon at 250 °C [Kogelschatz U et al 2000]. Operating in xenon or neon, they produce VUV or EUV (10 nm < λ < 100 nm) emissions with an efficiency as high as 50 to 60% [Vollkommer F and Hitzschke L 1996, Hitzschke L and Vollkommer F 2001, Mildren R P and Carman R J 2001, Carman R J and Mildren R P 2003, Carman R J et al 2004, Merbahi N et al 2007, Carman R J et al 2010. In order to understand their behaviour, stable MF-DBDs were must be achieved at frequencies around tens of kilohertz [Adler F and Muller S 2000, Sewraj N et al 2009, Merbahi N et al 2004, Merbahi N et al 2010.…”

Influence of the energy dissipation rate in the discharge of a plasma synthetic jet actuator

“…Indeed, the impact of the power supply on the plasma can modify the processes which occur, for example, in dielectric barrier discharge lamps [16][17][18] or ozone generator [19][20][21]. In [16], Mildren showed that the efficiency and light intensity (between 175 and 200 nm) are improved when the lamps are supplied by a pulsed power supply (rather than an AC power supply), and photographs of the light emission are presented in [17]. When using an ozone generator, Williamson obtained the same results [19], with the pulsed power supply producing more ozone than an AC power supply.…”

One-dimensional modelling of DBDs in Ne–Xe mixtures for excimer lamps

“…We see that the density of the metastable state decreases with the increasing of the gas pressure. This diminution in metastable density is due in part to its conversion to Xe 2 * ( 3 Σ u + ), collision with the fundamental state of xenon [21,22,60]. However, we can expect that the reaction R3 (see Table 1) can also contribute to this diminution as the pressure increasing induces a decrease in the plasma electric field.…”