Control of plasma spatial distribution in gas discharge lamps filled with alkali metal vapors

Abstract

The thermodynamic properties of alkali metal vapor plasma in the pressure range 0.25 - 3.0 atm and temperatures 1500 - 60000 K are considered. It is shown that a distinctive feature of this plasma is the existence of a relatively narrow critical temperature interval in which the plasma consists only of electrons and singly ionized atoms. The specific heat capacity of the plasma has a minimum value in the critical temperature range, corresponding to the heat capacity of a simple e-i plasma in which the second ionization of atoms has not begun. It has been shown that, due to this property, in gas discharge lamps filled with alkali metal vapors, it is possible to control the type of spatial distribution of the plasma. Under relatively low currents, when the temperature of the plasma doesn’t reach the critical range of the value, the traditional space distribution of the plasma is realized in the gas discharge tube. In this case, most of the plasma is concentrated in the axial region of the tube and its concentration decreases along the radius from the axis to the walls of the tube. With sufficiently high currents, when the plasma temperature on the axis exceeds the values from the critical interval, the opposite case is realized: the main part of the plasma is now concentrated on the periphery of the gas discharge volume. In this case, the plasma concentration increases along the radius from the axis to the tube walls. It is shown that the transformation of one type of spatial distribution of plasma into another occurs when the plasma temperature on the axis reaches values from the critical interval and the specific heat capacity approaches its minimum value, corresponding to a simple plasma consisting of electrons and single-charge ions.