Modeling and characterization of an indium(I)iodide-argon low pressure lamp

Summary form only given. Compact fluorescent lamps are broadly used for general lighting applications [1], yet they still struggle with acceptance problems, since they contain hazardous mercury as an elementary component. The presented work is a part of a project to substitute mercury with non-hazardous materials. For the efficiency increase and further improvement of the lamp, the determination of the plasma parameters is of utmost importance. For this purpose, the mercury free discharge based on indium(I)iodide-argon system is modeled on the basis of an extended corona model. The electron impact ionization and excitation cross sections of atomic components were calculated by means of Gryzinski method [2], while the method from [3] was used for calculation of ionization and dissociation cross sections of molecular indium(I)iodide. Ambipolar and free diffusion coefficients were determined by Chapman-Enskog-theory [4]. The rate equations for individual generation and loss processes were developed. Computational tools to solve the rate equations were programmed with MATLAB. With the help of this model, the plasma parameters like electron temperature, electron density and the line emission coefficients can be predicted at any given lamp configuration like puffer gas pressure or cold spot temperature.