Effect of the excitation pulse duration on energy characteristics of barrier discharge XeCl-excilamps

Excilamps are gas–discharge sources of spontaneous ultraviolet radiation based on exciplex and excimer molecules. One of their most important parameters determining the power and efficiency of the excilamp radiation, along with the composition and partial pressure of the working mixture, the size of the gas discharge gap, are the characteristics of the excilamp excitation pulse: shape and amplitude. It was previously shown that the optimal form of the excitation pulse for excilamps of a barrier discharge on exciplex molecules is a unipolar voltage pulse, similar in shape to a meander, with a front and fall duration of tens to hundreds of ns. However, the effect of the excitation pulse duration on the energy characteristics of the excilamps has not been specifically investigated. In this study of barrier discharge XeCl-excilamp, it is shown that reducing the excitation pulse duration of the XeCl-excilamp from 1.5 to 0.7 microseconds increases the radiant exitance of the excilamp by 14%. At the same time, the power consumption of the excilamp increases to 7%. During each time step the luminescence pulses occurs at the leading and trailing edges of the voltage pulses. The delay between the first and second pulses of radiation can be varied. Possible applications of this effect are discussed.