Effect of modulated high-pressure mercury discharges on the shape of self-reversed lines

The variation of the principal characteristics of the mercury visible triplet self-reversed lines is studied as a function of radial and temporal profiles of the temperature and of the species densities in high pressure mercury discharges (∼2 and ∼3 atm) operating on 50 Hz ac. An investigation is made into the effect of different theoretical and experimental parameters on the shape of calculated self-reversed lines. By comparison between experimental and theoretical results an estimation is made of the broadening constants and of the transition probabilities of the lines.