Refined interpretation of broadband radiation from a gas-discharge plasma of a krypton-xenon mixture

Abstract

The earlier interpretation of the broadband continuum observed in the VUV emission spectra of a gas-discharge plasma in a Kr + Xe mixture is refined. On the assumption that this continuum is caused by the bound-free transitions v,0+(3 P 1) → e, 0+(1 S 0) in KrXe* and Xe2 molecules, the distribution of the population over the vibrational levels v of the states 0+(3 P 1) of both molecules is obtained and the vibrational temperature for different methods of excitation of the spectrum is determined. Internuclear potentials 0+(3 P 1) and 0+(1 S 0) available from the literature are used. To improve the agreement between the calculated and experimental spectra, it is proposed to modify the positive branch of the potential curve 0+(1 S 0) of the KrXe* molecule.