Argon metastable production in argon-helium microplasmas

Abstract

Microwave resonator-driven microplasmas are a promising technology for generating the high density of rare-gas metastable states required for optically pumped rare gas laser systems. We measure the density of argon 1s5 states (Paschen notation) in argon-helium plasmas between 100 Torr and atmospheric pressure using diode laser absorption. The metastable state density is observed to rise with helium mole fraction at lower pressures but to instead fall slightly when tested near atmospheric pressure. A 0-D model of the discharge suggests that these distinct behaviors result from the discharge being diffusion-controlled at lower pressures, but with losses occurring primarily through dissociative recombination at high pressures. In all cases, the argon metastable density falls sharply when the neutral argon gas fraction is reduced below approximately 2%.