- Author
-
Smyth, K. C.
|
Schenck, P. K.
- Title
- Opto-Galvanic Spectroscopy of a Neon Discharge: Mechanism Studies.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Journal
-
Chemical Physics Letters,
Vol. 55,
No. 3,
466-472,
May 1, 1978
- Keywords
-
spectroscopy
|
neon
|
irradiation
|
lasers
- Abstract
- Irradiation of gaseous discharges with a tunable laser produces easily observed voltage changes at wavelengths which correspond to electronic transitions for species in the discharge. This work reports observations made in the 572-654 nm region on a neon glow discharge, which is operated at 5 torr (670 Pa) pressure and 2-25 mA current. A wide variety of absorption transitions have been detected which orginate in the [equation] and 2pn excited states. The resulting voltage signals are both positive and negative, and some transitions exhibit sign changes as a function of discharge current. Some of the results can be interpreted in terms of processes which directly affect the neon metastable atom concentration [equation] and thus ionization in the discharge, in agreement with previous suggestions. Transitions which originate in radiating electronic states also produce voltage changes which can be explained in terms of processes which either enhance or decrease ionization.