Measured cathode fall characteristics depending on the diameter of a hydrogen hollow cathode discharge

In this work, Doppler-free two photon optogalvanic spectroscopy is used to measure the electric field strength in the cathode fall region of a hollow cathode discharge, operated in pure hydrogen, via the Stark splitting of the 2S level of atomic hydrogen. The cathode fall characteristics are analyse...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: González Fernández, Verónica, Grützmacher, Klaus, Steiger, Andreas, Pérez, Concha, de la Rosa, Mª Inmaculada
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/99210
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/99210
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:533.9
543.422
Hollow cathode discharge
Laser spectroscopy
Optogalvanic detection
Electric field
Cathode fall region
Óptica (Física)
Electrónica (Física)
2204.10 Física de Plasmas
2209.01 Espectroscopia de Absorción
Descripción
Sumario:In this work, Doppler-free two photon optogalvanic spectroscopy is used to measure the electric field strength in the cathode fall region of a hollow cathode discharge, operated in pure hydrogen, via the Stark splitting of the 2S level of atomic hydrogen. The cathode fall characteristics are analysed for various pressures and in a wide range of discharge currents. Tungsten is used as the cathode material, because it allows for reliable measurements in a fairly wide range of discharge conditions and because of its minimal sputtering. Two cathode diameters (10 mm and 15 mm) are used to study the dependence of the cathode fall on discharge geometry. The measurements reveal that the cathode fall characteristics are quite independent on the cathode diameter for equal cathode current density; hence the measurements can be used to test one dimensional modelling of the cathode fall region for low pressure hydrogen discharges using e.g. plane parallel electrodes.