Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Fundamental Scaling of Microplasmas and Tunable UV Light Generation.

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1333485· OSTI ID:1333485

The temporal evolution of spectral lines from microplasma devices (MD) was studied, including impurity transitions. Long-wavelength emission diminishes more rapidly than deep UV with decreasing pulse width and RF operation. Thus, switching from DC to short pulsed or RF operation, UV emissions can be suppressed, allowing for real-time tuning of the ionization energy of a microplasma photo-ionization source, which is useful for chemical and atomic physics. Scaling allows MD to operate near atmospheric pressure where excimer states are efficiently created and emit down to 65 nm; laser emissions fall off below 200 nm, making MD light sources attractive for deep UV use. A first fully-kinetic three-dimensional model was developed that explicitly calculates electron-energy distribution function. This, and non-continuum effects, were studied with the model and how they are impacted by geometry and transient or DC operation. Finally, a global non-dimensional model was developed to help explain general trends MD physics.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
1333485
Report Number(s):
SAND--2016-11612; 649336
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

A tunable microplasma gradient-index lens for millimeter waves
Journal Article · Thu Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:22486401

Excimer emission from pulsed microhollow cathode discharges in xenon
Journal Article · Sat Dec 14 23:00:00 EST 2013 · Physics of Plasmas · OSTI ID:22218387

Tunable uv and visible lasers
Conference · Thu Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 1977 · OSTI ID:5278475