Abstract
We have developed a high peak power pulsed vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) flash lamp with extremely broadened emission spectra by using a pulsed silent discharge of a binary mixture of rare gases. In appropriate rare gas mixtures, certain energy transfer processes between rare gases were possible, resulting in the simultaneous multi-excimer emissions in a single discharge tube. In the case of a Kr/Xe mixture, an emission spectrum of almost flat-top shape was obtained with wavelengths ranging between 150nm and 175nm.
The frequency-averaged peak power of the broadened VUV emission was 0.4kW. Pulse widths of the VUV emission ranged from 1.5μs to 2.5μs (FWHM), depending on emission wavelengths. Kinetic analyses supported the production of hetero-nuclear excimers (KrXe*) with a center emission wavelength of 158nm as well as the production of homo-nuclear excimers (Kr2* and Xe2*) in a pulsed Kr/Xe silent discharge, that are the origins of the extremely broadened VUV spectra with a bandwidth of 26nm (FWHM).
