Kinetics of the Ar‐Hg Plasma of Fluorescent Lamp Discharges. II. Ar Partial Pressure and Discharge Current Variation

Abstract

AbstractIn continuation of recent kinetic investigations of the main macroscopic quantities of the Ar‐Hg plasma which include realistic electron kinetics at various Hg partial pressures, this paper deals with the study of the macroscopic plasma behaviour at varying discharge current and buffer gas pressure respectively in a wide range of practical interest. By simultaneously solving the particle balances for the various kinds of excited Hg atoms, the current balance as well as the electron Boltzmann equation for such a mixture plasma, the densities of the electrons and excited Hg atoms, the electron energy distribution function, the energy budget of the electrons and the ultraviolet resonance radiation outputs could be determined, analysed and in part compared with experimental data available in the literature. In particular, a good agreement between theoretical and experimental results for the densities of the excited Hg atoms as well as for both resonance radiation outputs was found for a wide range of both considered parameters.