Vacuum ultraviolet emissions from a cylindrical dielectric barrier discharge in neon and neon–hydrogen mixtures

Abstract

The vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) emissions from a cylindrical dielectric barrier discharge (C-DBD) excited by radio frequency (rf) power at 13.56MHz in both pure Ne and in a mixture of Ne and H2 were analyzed. Measurements of the relative emission intensity of the Ne resonance lines and the Ne2∗ excimer continua in pure neon were studied as a function of pressure, rf power, and gas flow rate. In Ne–H2 mixtures, we studied the emission of the H Lyman-α line as a function of H2 concentration, pressure, gas flow rate, and rf power. The observed dependence of the VUV emissions on the gas pressure, net rf power, gas flow rate and, in the case of the spectra of the Ne–H2 plasma, the H2 concentration is explained on the basis of a detailed microscopic analysis of the excimer formation and destruction processes and the competition between the vibrational relaxation processes, quenching processes, and the radiative decay of two excimer states involved.