Repetitively pulsed VUV emitter pumped by a barrier discharge in a mixture of helium with heavy water (D2O) vapour

A gas-discharge lamp based on a barrier discharge in a He — D₂O mixture at partial pressures p_D2O = 0.04 — 0.33 kPa and p_He = 10 — 60 kPa is studied. The emission spectrum of the discharge plasma contains mainly the A → X and C → X bands of OD hydroxyl (λ = 144 — 160 nm). The intensities of these bands are optimised by varying the pressure and composition of working mixtures.