Vacuum ultraviolet radiation efficiency of micro hollow cathode discharges sustained by a low-frequency power supply

摘要

This contribution reports on micro hollow cathode discharges (MHCD) generated in a MHCD device supplied by rectified and non-filtered low-frequency currents which preserve the cathode function. The vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation efficiency of such a MHCD was investigated in high-pressure argon in the frequency range from 40 kHz to 140 kHz. Both the currents and voltages of the MHCD device are nonlinear and the power input shows a flat maximum at about 50 kHz. The VUV efficiency also displays a pronounced maximum at this frequency but remains still below of those for the dc supplied MHCD.