UV-VUV excimer emitter pumped by a subnormal glow discharge

Characteristics of a small-size excimer emitter operating on an Ar – Cl₂ mixture excited by a subnormal glow discharge are studied. It is shown that this discharge is a source of multiwavelength emission in a range of 175 – 258 nm. The optimum pressures lie in ranges of 0.3 – 0.5 kPa for chlorine and 2 – 4 kPa for argon. The average power of UV- VUV emission reaches 0.7 W, with the emission efficiency equal to 3 %. The emitter can be used in microelectronics, high-energy chemistry, short-wavelength photometry, biophysics, and medicine.