Production of Ar metastables in a dielectric barrier discharge

The results of experiments with a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) are presented, where the production of metastable argon atoms was studied. The recently proposed optically pumped all-rare-gas laser (OPRGL) utilizes metastable atoms of heavier rare gases as lasing species. The required number density of metastables for efficient laser operation is 1012÷1013 cm-3 in an atmospheric pressure of He buffer gas. Recent experiments had shown that such densities are easily produced in a nanosecond pulsed discharge, even at pressures larger than atmospheric, but problems appear when one is trying to produce them in a CW regime. The reason for difficulties in the CW production of metastables at an atmospheric pressure seems to be the low value of the E/N parameter (<5-6 Td). In our experiments a 20 KHz DBD in 2-5% Ar mixture with He at an atmospheric pressure was studied. [Ar(1s5)] number density of the order of 1012 cm-3 was readily achieved. Temporal behavior of [Ar(1s5)] throughout the DBD cycle was obtained. The results demonstrate the feasibility of DBDs for OPRGL development.