Development and production of UV and VUV sources

Abstract

This paper discusses gas-discharge sources of ultraviolet and vacuum ultraviolet radiations developed at the S. I. Vavilov State Optical Institute. The main characteristics of lamps with arc, glow, rf, and barrier discharges are presented, along with areas in which they can be used. It is indicated that krypton, xenon, argon, hydrogen, deuterium, neon, helium, and combinations of these gases are used as a fill gas. It is pointed out that a recent breakthrough in VUV engineering was to use magnesium fluoride and lithium fluoride windows. After the technique for attaching windows made from these materials to glass bulbs was mastered, it became possible to create a new class of VUV sources. It is emphasized that the structure of the laboratory of gas-discharge light sources assumes that the development of new types of UV and VUV lamps is to be combined with their production. This makes it possible to carry out small-scale production and to develop and fabricate sources (lamps) as single samples to meet individual technical requirements, and this is important when developing new devices that use UV and VUV radiation sources.