An Electrodischarge Source of Ultraviolet Radiation on Chlorine Molecules

Abstract

We investigated the characteristics of a transverse glowing discharge and of a volume discharge in a system of sphere‐plane electrodes in chlorine of low pressure (P = 40–160 Pa). The formation of a single plasma domain has been revealed. It is a selective source of UV radiation at electronic‐vibrational transitions of the chlorine molecule. Due to the development of the discharge plasma instability in chlorine, the radiation of the plasma is represented in the form of pulses with a repetition rate f = 1–50 kHz on increase in the mean discharge current from 2 to 50 mA. For this range of discharge currents, the dependence of the brightness of the radiation bands for molecular chlorine with λ = 200 and 257 nm has a character which increases with the current. The plasma of the chlorine‐based domain can be used in a source of short‐wave radiation source having no quartz discharge tube (or any other tube transparent in the UV–VUV range of wavelengths) which contracts the plasma and needs cooling and when in the source of the lamp pumping there are no commutators (thyratrons, tacitrons, or spark gaps).