DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE OF A HIGH-TEMPERATURE FLUORESCENCE CELL FOR DISCHARGE AND ELECTRON-BEAM EXCITED GAS-MIXTURES

The design and performance is described for a high-temperature cell ap propriate for kinetic and spectroscopic studies on electron-beam or el ectrical-discharge excited species emitting in the vacuum ultraviolet. The experimental setup operates at temperatures up to 750 K for total gas. mixture pressures of up to 5 bar. Particularly, the apparatus pe rmits investigations on the emission spectra and their temporal behavi or of ionic excimer molecules after excitation with these two most-com mon gas laser-excitation techniques. The comparison of the quantum eff iciency for the production of the vacuum ultraviolet emissions with bo th excitation techniques, together with the possibility to perform opt ical gain measurements, will allow us to evaluate whether lasing for t his new class of molecules can be achieved. The performance of the exp erimental device is presented by investigations on the second continua of the rare gas. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.