This award supports Dr. Karl Schoenbach and a postdoctoral student to collaborate with Klaus Frank of the Physics Department at the Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen. The collaboration will study two topics: the physics of multiple, parallel discharges in the steady-state phase, and the discharge ignition process. These studies have application to the development of excimer light sources in direct-current (DC), low- voltage, flat-panel lamps. Experimental and modeling studies on DC discharges will be combined with ignition-phase studies at Erlangen to accelerate research in the area of flat-panel excimer lamps, which provide quasi-monochromatic light sources with a wide range of applications. Overall, the combined effort will provide a better understanding of the physics of hollow-cathode discharge arrays, provide information on the electric breakdown in single hollow-cathode discharges and discharge arrays, and determine the effect of electrode materials and dielectrics on the performance of the microhollow cathode discharges.
