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Plasma and Beam Physics

Optogalvanic effect

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Abrupt Change In Neon Discharge Plasma Detected Through Optogalvanic Effects, Xianming Han, Michael Blosser, Prabhakar Misra, Haridass Chandran Oct 2015

Abrupt Change In Neon Discharge Plasma Detected Through Optogalvanic Effects, Xianming Han, Michael Blosser, Prabhakar Misra, Haridass Chandran

Xianming Han

When a laser is tuned between two excited energy levels of a gas in a Direct Current discharge lamp, the discharge current will experience a temporary disturbance lasting tens or hundreds of microseconds known as the optogalvanic effect. We have carried out extensive studies of optogalvanic effects in neon discharge plasmas for transitions at 621.7 nm, 630.5 nm, 638.3 nm, 650.7 nm and 659.9 nm. A nonlinear least-squares Monte Carlo technique has been used to determine the relevant amplitude coefficients, decay rates and the instrumental time constant. We discovered an abrupt change in the neon discharge plasma at a discharge …


Determination Of Energy Level Excitation States Of Time Dependent Optogalvanic Signals In A Discharge Plasma, Michael Christopher Blosser Mar 2010

Determination Of Energy Level Excitation States Of Time Dependent Optogalvanic Signals In A Discharge Plasma, Michael Christopher Blosser

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

When tuning a laser between two excited energy levels of the atoms in a discharge plasma, the discharge current will temporarily be disturbed. This disturbance or change in current is the optogalvanic effect (OGE). The fundamental goal of this project is to determine the exponential rates in the time-dependent OGE signals. These rates are related to the collision rates for the atoms in the plasma. The OGE data will be experimentally recorded, fitted, and analyzed to extract the exponential rates related to the energy levels of the atom in gas in the discharge lamp.