A high intensity flash lamp for vacuum ultraviolet photochemical studies

A simple flash photolysis lamp has been described. This lamp has output in the vacuum uv region down to LiF cutoff and has been used successfully in the photodecomposition of ethane. The output intensity was measured below 1650 A using carbon dioxide as an actinometer and was found to be 7.2 x 10(16) quanta/flash or 1.31 x 10(21) quanta/sec. This intensity is about a factor of 10(6)-10(7) higher than that of the low intensity vacuum uv lamp normally used in the continuous photolysis technique.

A vacuum ultraviolet flash photolysis apparatus

An improved apparatus for performing vacuum uv flash photolysis-kinetic spectroscopy has been constructed. The deviceconsists of a compact coaxial arrangement of six capacitors and six electrode pairs symmetrically placed about a hexagonal reaction vessel of large aperture. The reaction vessel contains LiF windows to transmit far uv radiation. The six pairs of electrodes and six capacitors are connected separately and are synchronously fired, uniformly illuminating the reaction cell. The photolytic light pulse duration is about 5 microsec. More than 10(18) quanta enter the reaction vessel in the spectral region between 1050 A and 1600 A. The essential operating features of the apparatus are described.