2D simulations of short-pulsed dielectric barrier discharge xenon excimer lamp

Self-consistent two-dimensional (2D) simulations of short-pulsed dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in pure xenon have been performed. It is shown that during short current pulse the traversal inhomogeneity of the plasma parameters can be important only at the end of the current pulse as an edge effect close to the side walls. During the current pulse, the gap voltage drops until the ionization wave reaches the cathode so the current in the cathode sheath is the displacement current. This means that almost all of the absorbed power is deposited into excitation of xenon atoms and not to the ion heating in the cathode sheath as in the traditional glow discharges. This fact is one of the reasons of high efficiency of short-pulsed DBD. The developed model allows one to estimate the temporal position of the plasma-sheath boundary.