BEHAVIOR OF NEON 1s(5) ATOMS IN He-Ne ACTIVE D. C. DISCHARGES.
Abstract
The radial profiles of the neon 1s(5) metastable atom density in active d.c. He-Ne discharges were measured by means of a laser interferometer operating at 6401 A. The axial metastable densities were observed to increase with current to a maximum value at a current I(sat) and then decrease with further increases in current. For currents much greater than the saturating value, I(sat), the profiles were observed to be uniform, while for the opposite extreme the spatial distributions were zero order Bessel functions. For the 5.5 mm bore tube examined the first noticeable transition from a Bessel function to a uniform profile corresponds to this same saturation current satisfying the condition p I(sat) is about 45-50 torr. ma. Electron-metastable ionizing collisions are shown to be the destructive process that causes the spatial uniformity, whereas the decrease in the axial metastable density is due to the shift of the average electron energy to lower values with increasing current. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1970
- Accession Number
- AD0712403
Entities
People
- B. E. Cherrington
- E. Wisniewski
- J. T. Verdeyen
- L. A. Schlie
Organizations
- University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign