Kinetic model of ultraviolet inversions in high-pressure rare-gas plasmas

It is shown theoretically that stimulated vacuum ultraviolet emission at [inverted lazy s] 1700 Å is possible in the afterglow of a suitably prepared ionized xenon plasma. Our model involves the dissociative recombination of Xe2+ as a key step in the kinetic scheme leading to the production of excited Xe2* dimers. It is found that the maximum value of the dimer population occurs for a plasma that is initially [inverted lazy s] 1% ionized with cold gas atoms. Both plasma heating and higher levels of ionization inhibit dimer formation. Excited state-excited state loss channels are also seen to play an important role in limiting the peak dimer density. Comparison of this theory with recent experimental results involving relativistic electron-beam-excited plasmas is good.