Some Properties of a Novel Far UV Xenon Excimer Barrier Discharge Light Source

Abstract Electrical and optical properties of dielectric barrier Xenon discharge lamps, selectively emitting Xe /172 nm vuv radiation from a multitude of transient discharge filaments have been investigated. The lamps used were uncooled and of the flat panel type with two dielectric quartz barriers and external metal electrodes. Such lamps can be considered as small scale models of much larger flat panel uv lamps. UV emission scales almost linearly with operating frequency below 10 kHz. Both uv emission and uv efficiency rise with increasing gap spacing. The specific 172 nm emission is in the range of 100 mW/cm 2 for frequencies close to 100 kHz (no lamp cooling). External efficiency at high specific uv emission is close to 10%. Higher external efficiencies up to 20% are possible at lower frequencies of a few kHz, but at reduced specific uv flux.