Dielectric barrier hollow cathode discharge and its enhanced performance for light source

Abstract

We invented the dielectric barrier hollow cathode discharge (DBHCD) configuration as a novel light source and studied on the physical properties of discharge and the possibility of the parallel operation of many holes of the DBHCD without additional impedances such as inductance or capacitance. The electrical characteristics and the photo images of discharges sustained in cavity were investigated. The experimental result showed that the surface discharge mode was transformed into a hollow cathode mode according to a decrease of the pD (operating pressure times hole diameter). The parallel operation of the 13 arrays of DBHCD was also possible without additional impedances for limiting current. We measured the relative IR emission efficiency of the coplanar dielectric barrier discharge (CDBD) and DBHCD to evaluate the enhanced performance as light sources. According to the experiment, the 25 arrays of DBHCD result in 30%-enhanced performance in IR emission efficiency compared with CDBD. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.