Affiliation:
1. Regional Medical Physics Department, Weston Park Hospital
Abstract
The paper examines the contribution from metallic sodium to the total visible light output of a mercury-sodium iodide discharge. The existence of a sheath of sodium atoms emitting the characteristic D resonance radiation, and surrounding the core of the mercury discharge, is established and the effect of operating position on the visible contribution from the sheath is analysed theoretically. The results of two series of experimental observations are discussed; these data strongly support the predictions of the analysis. The effect of the addition of more complex metallic atoms, particularly scandium, is briefly considered.
Subject
Electrical and Electronic Engineering,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics