EXTENDED BROAD-BAND EMISSION IN VACUUM-ULTRAVIOLET BY MULTI-RARE-GAS SILENT DISCHARGES

We have demonstrated extended broad-band fluorescence emission in vacu um ultraviolet (VUV) by using silent discharges of rare gas mixtures. Two new VUV continua with considerably broad emission bandwidths have been observed, which have emission bandwidths of similar to 30 nm [ful l width at half maximum] at center wavelength of 145 nm for an argon/k rypton mixture and of 163 nm for a krypton/xenon mixture. A frequency- integrated average VUV emission power for a krypton/xenon continuum is 2.5 W, corresponding to a power conversion efficiency of 9.6%.