AMO Physics of Metal-Halide High-Intensity-Discharge Lamps
Abstract
Metal Halide High Intensity Discharge (MH-HID) lamps are widely used today, and are being studied for continued development, because of their superior color and efficacy [1]. MH-HID lamps are high pressure (many bar) mercury arc lamps with metal halide additives such as ScI3 or rare earth iodides. These additive salts evaporate at arc tube temperatures, the salt molecules dissociate in the arc, and the metal atoms and ions radiate strongly from the arc core to produce a pleasing white light with an excellent color temperature and color rendering index. Transition metals (e.g. Sc) and rare earth metals (e.g. Dy) have rich visible spectra. Although the plasma in these lamps is in local thermodynamic equilibrium, it is by no means easy to model due to huge temperature gradients, plasma segregation of additives, free convection cells, complex radiation transport, and other effects. Diagnostic experiments, especially in the lamps with translucent poly-crystalline alumina arc tubes [1], are equally challenging. Recent progress in the development of X-ray and optical-UV diagnostic experiments using synchrotron radiation will be summarized [2,3,4]. A possibility for combining these diagnostics to get a first look at the molecules and molecular radicals in the mantle of the arc will be described. The spectra of the metal halide molecules and radicals are almost completely unknown, but the formation of these species in the mantle is thought to protect the arc tube from chemical attack by reactive metal atoms. Recent progress toward the development of a quantitative microscopic understanding of infrared losses from the arc will be reported. [1] W. J. van den Hoek, A. G. Jack, & G. M. J. F. Luijks 2001, in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 6th Ed. (Weinheim: Wiley-VCH) [2] J. J. Curry, M. Sakai, and J. E. Lawler, J. Appl. Phys. 84, 3066 (1998) [3] J. J. Curry, H. Adler, S. D. Shastri, and J. E. Lawler, Appl. Phys. Lett. 79, 1974 (2001) [4] G. A. Bonvallet, D. J. Smith, and J. E. Lawler, to be submitted
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- May 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003APS..DMP.F1001L