Electric field strengths in a hollow cathode measured by Doppler-free two-photon optogalvanic spectroscopy via Stark splitting of the 2S level of deuterium

Abstract

We present, in this work, Doppler-free two-photon optogalvanic spectroscopy as a tool to measure the electric field strength in the cathode fall region of a hollow cathode discharge via the Stark splitting of the 2S level of atomic deuterium. The strong electric field strength (1 to 4 kV cm−1) present in the hollow cathode is determined for various discharge conditions (currents from 50 to 200 mA and pressures from 400 to 1350 Pa), which allows investigation of the corresponding variations of the cathode fall and its changes with discharge operation time.