The results of testing two technologies based on gas microplasmas for the generation of UV-visible light is detailed. A microcavity device from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana have been delivered with an Ar/D₂ gas mixture. Emission from the Ar/Ne as well as an Ar/D₂ eximer in the 250-400nm range, as well as argon lines in the visible and near infrared, are measured. Development of addressing arrays is discussed as is the potential of emission in other wavebands with other gas species. A 100x40 array of plasmaspheres combined with electronics capable of projecting images at 1000 Hz with 10 bits of grayscale resolution has been built and tested. This system, built by Imaging Systems Technology (IST), is capable of accepting DVI output from a HWIL system and projecting UV from a gas captured in the spheres. This array uses an argon neon gas mixture to produce UV, visible and near infrared light. Performance data discussed for both arrays include: maximum and minimum brightness, uniformity, spectral content, speed, linearity, crosstalk, resolution, and frame rate. Extensions of these technologies to larger arrays with wider spectral bandwidth for use in multispectral projectors are discussed.

Date Published: 30 April 2007
PDF: 13 pages
Proc. SPIE 6544, Technologies for Synthetic Environments: Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing XII, 65440F (30 April 2007); doi: 10.1117/12.720337

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6544:
Technologies for Synthetic Environments: Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing XII
Robert Lee Murrer Jr., Editor(s)