Invited paper: High efficiency plasma display discharges

Plasma display panel efficiency data are correlated with panel emission measurements. A large (VIS/IR)-ratio, of the phosphor emission in the visible to the Xe emission in the infrared, indices a high Xe-excitation efficiency. Monitoring the changes at the (VIS/IR)-ratio, allows a decomposition of the discharge efficiency into Xe-excitation efficiency and electron-heating efficiency contributions. For several different panel efficacy dependences on sustain voltage and frequency consistent trends in Xe-excitation efficiency and electron-heating efficiency are found. In addition in order to follow the discharge development the time dependence and the spatial distribution of the Xe emission are monitored. The combined results show that plasma saturation is significant for low Xe content panels in default operation conditions, and that plasma saturation decrease for high voltage, high frequency operation of high Xe-content panels. Finally, it is found that the Xe-excitation efficiency increases for increasing sustain voltage and frequency. These driving conditions, which are especially suited for high Xe-content panels, govern a fast and spatially distributed discharge development, with a lower effective electron temperature and decreased plasma saturation. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1889/1.3069674/epdf