Abstract

A simple theoretical model of visible light emission from xenon flashlamps is presented. The continuum light emission is calculated from the rate of electron–ion recombination in the xenon plasma, which is treated as a greybody in thermal equilibrium. The effect of radiation reabsorption is calculated in terms of the temperature-dependent greybody emissivity. The model predictions of radiated power and energy are compared to measured data. Reasonable agreement is obtained over a wide range of parameters of practical interest. Thus the model provides a useful analytical tool for first-order engineering design of xenon flash-lamp illumination systems.

© 1982 Optical Society of America

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