Visible and VUV emission from a xenon dielectric barrier discharge using pulsed and sinusoidal voltage excitation waveforms

Short exposure images of the visible and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) emission from a Xe dielectric barrier discharge lamp have been recorded to investigate the discharge structure for pulsed and sinusoidal voltage waveforms. The images from the pulsed discharge indicate that the plasma is essentially uniform over the active electrode area. For sinusoidal excitation, the discharge is filamentary, with the filaments surrounded by a less intense broad area discharge.