Excessively Bright Hydrogen-Strontium Plasma Light Source Due to Energy Resonance of Strontium with Hydrogen

We report the observation of vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) emission in the region 40 − 560 nm from incandescently heated atomic hydrogen and atomized strontium. Typically the emission of vacuum ultraviolet light from hydrogen gas is achieved using discharges at high voltage, synchrotron devices, high power inductively coupled plasma generators, or a plasma is created and heated to extreme temperatures by RF coupling (e.g. > 10 K ) with confinement provided by a toroidal magnetic field. The observed plasma formed at low temperatures (e.g. ≈ 10 K ) from atomic hydrogen generated at a tungsten filament that heated a titanium dissociator and atomic strontium which was vaporized from the metal by heating. No emission was observed with hydrogen when sodium, magnesium, or barium replaced strontium or with hydrogen or