The influence of various gaseous impurities (N2, H2, CO2, H2O, Xe) on the breakdown voltage of argon and its Penning mixture with mercury has been investigated using an electrodeless high-frequency method. The breakdown voltage of the Penning mixture is shown to be more sensitive to these impurities than that of pure argon. The increase of the breakdown voltage observed in (argon + mercury) mixtures containing small amounts of impurities can be interpreted as being due to quenching collisions between argon metastables and impurity particles.
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