Fast electrical discharge tube for time dependent spectoscopy

摘要

An improved transverse discharge tube for time resolved spectroscopy is described. Current densities of 1000 A/cm2with risetime of less than 5times;10minus;9sec and total pulse length of 3times;10minus;8sec were achieved in pressures up to 500 Torr of noble gas mixtures. This improved performance, compared with the Tanaka longitudinal tube, is essential for observation of fast energy transfer processes originating at highly excited atomic and molecular levels.