Kinetics and radiative processes in Xe/I/sub 2/ inductively coupled RF discharges at low pressure

Summary form only given. The environmental concern over the presence of mercury in conventional fluorescent lamps has motivated research into alternative electrically efficient near UV plasma lighting sources. One such candidate is multi-wavelength UV emission from Xe/I/sub 2/ mixtures, including excimer radiation from XeI* at 253 nm. Previous studies of the XeI* system were performed at high pressures and were intended for laser applications. Practical Xe/I/sub 2/ lamps are likely to operate in the 0.5-10 Torr regime and use electrodeless excitation to avoid issues related to electrode erosion by the halogen. In this paper, we report on an experimental investigation of low pressure, inductively coupled plasmas sustained in Xe/I/sub 2/ mixtures. The goals of this work are to characterize the UV emission and determine excitation mechanisms in a parameter space of interest to lighting applications.