Arc-acoustic interaction in rare gas flashlamps

High frequency oscillations have been observed in rare gas flashlamp voltage and light output pulses. Experiments have shown that the frequency of the oscillations increases with the square root of the input electrical energy density. At fixed energy density input, the period of the oscillations increases linearly with the cylindrical lamp radius and with the square root of the atomic mass of the rare gas. These measured dependences suggest an acoustic generation mechanism with the gas temperature proportional to the input energy density. This interpretation allows a determination of the instantaneous gas temperature from the measured oscillation frequency.