Production efficiency of excited atoms in PDP cells with grooved dielectric structures studied by laser absorption spectroscopy

Performances of microplasmas in unit discharge cells with grooved structures in the dielectric layer covering the coplanar electrodes were investigated in alternating current (ac)-type plasma display panels filled with Ne-Xe(10%) mixture at 450 torr. The diagnostics are based on a microscopic laser-absorption spectroscopy technique for the spatiotemporally resolved measurements of absolute densities of Xe/sup */(1s/sub 5/,1s/sub 4/) atoms, from which the production rate and the efficiency of the vacuum ultraviolet photons were estimated. These results were compared with previously reported data obtained in conventional phosphor coated panels with the same structures for the dependences on the applied sustain voltages. As the result, the following conclusions were ascertained. The grooved structure does not help to improve the luminous efficiency but it helps to lower the firing and sustaining voltages by about 20 V if the electrode gap is kept constant. Therefore, it provides additional possibilities for the selection of other operating conditions such as the gas composition and pressure for the improvements of the luminance and the luminous efficiency.