Spatiotemporal density behavior of an excited xenon atom in the 1s5 metastable state in a dielectric barrier discharge plasma

Abstract

The spatiotemporal density behavior of an excited xenon atom in the 1s5 metastable state has been studied, and the excitation efficiency of Xe atoms was measured by using laser absorption spectroscopy. The discharge space was filled to a pressure of 400 Torr with a gas mixture comprised of 35% helium, a variable xenon mole-fraction and a neon base. From our experiment, the maximum density of excited Xe atoms in the 1s5 metastable state in a surface discharged plasma was found to be 2.88 × 1013 cm−3 for the gas mixture He(35%)-Ne(50%)-Xe(15%), 4.53 × 1013 cm−3 for He(35%)-Ne(45%)-Xe(20%) and 8.68 × 1013 cm−3 for He(35%)-Ne(40%)-Xe(30%). We also note from the measurement that the excitation efficiency increased drastically up to a Xe mole fraction of 20%, and then, increased slowly to xenon mole fractions beyond 20%.