A UV lamp based on a Kr-Xe mixture with Br2 and I2 molecules

Abstract

A small-size broadband ultraviolet lamp with an emission spectrum of 206–390 nm, which is excited by a dc glow discharge, is described. The discharge was ignited in a quartz discharge tube with an inner diameter of 1.4 cm and an anode-cathode spacing of 10 cm. The tube was filled with a Kr/Xe/Br2/I2 working mixture, the total pressure being 0.5–2.0 kPa. The lamp’s emission spectrum consisted of a 206.2-nm iodine atomic line 0.1 nm wide at half-height and a continuum in a spectral region of 210–390 nm. The continuum resulted from overlapping of wide emission bands with peaks at 221 nm for XeBr(D-X), 253 nm for XeI(B-X), 282 nm for XeBr(B-X), 289 nm for Br 2 * , 342 nm for I 2 * , and 386 nm for IBr*. The total power of the ultraviolet emission was no more than 8–12 W, the power injected into the discharge being 10–100 W. The lamp lifetime in the gas-static mode was 300–400 h.