Chemi-ionization in mercury and neon discharges

Conference · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1999

OSTI ID:20050652

Sheverev, V; Folan, L; Stephaniuk, V

Modeling of discharge light sources is becoming increasingly important in predicting device performance and determination of optimal regimes for their operation. A good knowledge of the elementary processes occurring under non-equilibrium conditions is a prerequisite for any model. Chemi- ionization processes involving collisions of excited atoms play a crucial role in many lighting discharges, both for low (a few torr) and higher (>10 torr) gas pressures. The understanding of such processes and their role in discharge power balance is scant, and quantitative data on the rate coefficients is inadequate. Experimental studies of chemi-ionization in collisions of metastable studies of chemi-ionization in collisions of metastable neon and mercury atoms were recently initiated at Brooklyn Polytechnic University. Rate coefficients for collisions between two p{sup 5}3s{sup 1} {sup 3}P{sub 2} and between 2p{sup 5}3s{sup 13}P{sub 2} and {sup 3}P{sub 1} excited neon atoms were measured using plasma electron spectroscopy. Investigation of chemi-ionization in collisions of 6{sup 3}P{sub 0,1,2} mercury states is under way and the intermediate results will be reported. Results of quantitative evaluation of the importance of the chemi-ionization for neon and mercury lamp modeling will also be presented.

• Research Organization: Polytechnic Univ., Brooklyn, NY (US)
• OSTI ID: 20050652
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
ATOM COLLISIONS
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
EXCITED STATES
IONIZATION
LIGHT BULBS
LIGHTING SYSTEMS
MERCURY
NEON