Efficient radiation production in a weakly ionized, low-pressure, nonequilibrium gallium-iodide positive column discharge plasma

Electric-discharge plasmas in gallium-iodide vapours are experimentally found to convert 40% of input electric power into ultraviolet and visible radiation (200-800 nm). The conditions are a weakly ionized positive column consisting of 5-10 Torr argon, and the gallium-iodide vapour is formed by heating condensed gallium-iodide to 100-120 degrees C. The input power density is 50-100 mW cm(-3). The plasma is contained in a sealed silica tube and excited by an external radiofrequency antenna. Computational analysis and plasma diagnostics lead to a quantitative understanding that gallium atoms are formed by electron-impact dissociation of gallium-iodide compounds that evaporate into the plasma volume, and that further electron collisions excite the gallium atoms, which then decay by photon emission. High efficiency is possible only because several photons are emitted per dissociation event, and because nonradiative power channels such as electron-impact elastic heating and vibrational excitation are not dominant. The dissociated species recombine on the wall to reform the species that evaporates. The plasma properties change discontinuously as the molar ratio of iodine to gallium (I/Ga) in the system crosses the values I/Ga = 3 and I/Ga = 2, consistent with the thermodynamic properties of condensed gallium-iodide compounds.