Emission spectroscopic studies of Grimm-type glow discharge plasma with argon-helium gas mixtures

The effect of argon/helium pressure ratios on the emission intensity of various Ar II lines is investigated for a Grimm-type glow discharge radiation source, operated with Ar-He mixtures. The relative intensities of the Ar II lines are altered significantly by mixing helium with argon. It is found that the population of the Ar⁺ excited states can be redistributed through He-Ar collisional energy transfer. The energy level of the He singlet metastable state (¹S₀,20.62 eV) is very important for these processes. If the excitation energy of Ar II lines is higher than that of the He singlet metastable, strong quenching of the Ar II line intensity is observed. However, when the excitation energy is slightly lower, some of the Ar II lines are enhanced by adding helium to the argon plasma. Energy exchanges between the Ar⁺ doublet term states and the He singlet metastable are favoured because the total spin remains unchanged before and after the He-Ar collisions. Furthermore, the helium mixing also exerts a great influence on the emission intensities of the elements sputtered from the cathode of the discharge lamp. The enhancement of Al I and Al II emission intensities at suitable Ar-He mixture ratios is discussed for when aluminum is employed as a cathode material.