Radiometric efficiency of barium discharge plasmas

Summary form only given. Barium has a number of characteristics that indicate it may be a good atomic radiator in a glow discharge. 1) At practical operating temperatures barium has a vapor pressure in the mTorr range (3 mT at 840 K). 2) The excitation energy of the primary radiating level in barium is less than half of the ionization energy. 3) The wavelength of the resonance transition is suitable for direct use as a visible light source. At 553 nm, this radiation lies at the peak of the eye sensitivity curve. For these reasons, a barium glow discharge may prove to be of interest to the Lighting industry for use in a novel, efficient white light source. Progress in experimental determination of the radiometric efficiency of a dc glow discharge in Barium and progress in a modeling study of the radiometric efficiency of a barium glow discharge will be reported.