UV emission from capacitive discharge in inert gas-iodine vapor mixture

We have studied the optical characteristics of capacitive discharge in binary mixtures of helium, neon, argon, and krypton with iodine vapor in a spectral range of 180-300 nm. It is established that the main power of UV radiation from the discharge plasma is concentrated in the emission lines at 183.0 and 206.2 nm. The intensity of emission due the spectral lines of iodine atom was optimized with respect to the inert gas type and partial pressure. The optimum results were obtained using He-I-2 mixture with partial pressures of helium within 0.8-2.0 kPa and iodine vapor below 50-60 Pa. Being excited with a trains of nanosecond current pulses at a repetition rate of 10-100 Hz, the capacitive discharge emitted pulses with duration not exceeding 400-500 ns.