A high-power low-pressure iodine lamp pumped by glow discharge

We present the working characteristics of a high-power UV-VUV electric-discharge lamp filled with a working mixture of helium and iodine vapor (He-I₂) at a low pressure (0.1–1.5 kPa) and pumped by a dc glow discharge at a power of 15–200 W. The power of the total output UV radiation and the main emission peak at λ = 206.2 nm were studied as dependent on the electric power supplied to the glow discharge and on the partial pressure of helium in the He-I₂ mixture. The emission characteristics of the glow discharge plasma were studied in the spectral range from 200 to 350 nm. In this range, the lamp is operating predominantly on a resonance emission line of excited iodine atoms (λ = 206.2 nm, FWHM = 0.10–0.12 nm) and on a system of electronic-vibrational bands of excited iodine molecules with the main peak at λ = 342 nm. The contribution of the resonance emission due to excited iodine atoms to the total UV emission from the glow discharge plasma does not exceed 50%. The optimum partial pressure of helium is within 400–800 Pa. The total UV radiation power of the lamp operating in the optimum regime reaches 25 W at an efficiency of η ≤15%.