A starting aid for discharge lamp arc tubes is characterized by an arc tube having a tubular body wall that longitudinally extends between first and second ends and surrounding an internal arc cavity with first and second electrodes that have conductive feedthroughs to electrically connect to corresponding first and second external arctube leads; an antenna conductor extending longitudinally on an outside surface of the arc tube wall between first and second antenna ends that are located radially outward of corresponding first and second electrodes; and an antenna coupling member comprising a conductive coupling connector that is electrically connected to the first arctube lead, and extends to a coupling end located on the body wall near to the first antenna end and separated from it by a coupling gap of predetermined, non-zero gap dimension.

A gas discharge device includes a thin glass tube filled with a discharge gas; a pair of first and second long electrodes extending toward either side along a longitudinal direction with a discharge gap interposed therebetween are provided outside of a back side flat surface of a thin glass tube; and a ultraviolet phosphor layer formed on an inner surface at the back side flat surface, the thin glass tube filled with a discharge gas having a front side flat surface and the back side flat surface facing each other on a transverse section, wherein, starting with trigger discharge that is initially generated in the discharge gap as a result of a voltage increase when a voltage with a sine waveform or an inclined waveform is applied between both electrodes, the discharge gradually extends so as to move in the longitudinal direction of the electrodes. Ultraviolet light having high luminous efficiency and emission intensity is obtained from a front side surface of the thin glass tube by driving the device with a sine-wave AC voltage.

The excimer lamp includes: a discharge container having a substantially quadrangular shape with a cross section, the discharge container having a pair of flat walls extending in a longitudinal direction and a pair of side walls connecting the flat walls; a pair of external electrodes facing each other disposed on outer surfaces of the pair of flat walls, respectively; a first internal electrode disposed inside the discharge container so as to extend toward inner surfaces of the pair of flat walls; and a second internal electrode disposed inside the discharge container at a position spaced apart from the first internal electrode in the longitudinal direction so as to extend toward the inner surfaces of the pair of flat walls. The first internal electrode and the second internal electrode are respectively disposed at positions between end parts and central parts of the external electrodes in the longitudinal direction.

An apparatus and a method for operating a sealed beam lamp containing an ionizable medium are disclosed. The lamp includes a sealed chamber, a pair of ignition electrodes, a substantially flat chamber ingress window, and a laser light source disposed outside the chamber producing laser light. Laser light is focused to a first focal region coinciding with an ignition region disposed between the ignition electrodes. The ionizable medium at the ignition region is ignited with the laser. The laser light is focused to a second focal region coinciding with a plasma sustaining region not co-located with the plasma ignition region.

Flash tubes for photographic use, in particular a flash tube is adapted to provide a light output adapted to FP-sync, Flat Peak. The flash tube includes a length of glass tubing enclosing a gas for use in the flash tube, a cathode inside a first end part of glass tubing and an anode inside a second end part of glass tubing. The cathode includes an element that helps to ionize the gas that is wound around the cathode, such that a spark stream starts from the upper part of the cathode and is prevented from spreading down wards on the cathode and changing the arc length during the light output adapted to FP-sync.

A flash discharge tube includes tungsten pins configuring a pair of discharge electrodes, and an envelope. The envelope includes a central region, serving as an alkali-free region, which is configured with an alkali-free glass except for quartz glass. The central region becomes in a high temperature state during a firing operation of the flash discharge tube. The central region is smaller than a maximum region enclosing a gas-tight space formed by hermetically sealing the pair of the discharge electrodes and is not smaller than a minimum region enclosing an arc-discharge space formed between the tungsten pins of the pair of the discharge electrodes. The alkali-free region contains either no alkali metal component or not larger than a predetermined amount of an alkali metal component. Then, a trigger electrode is disposed in the alkali-free region. This provides the flash discharge tube featuring a stable short-interval continuous-firing operation.

The object of this invention is to provide a gas discharge device which has a simple configuration, inexpensive, and has excellent luminous efficiency, for an ultraviolet or visible light source.

The invention provides a gas discharge device in which first and second long electrodes extending toward either side along a longitudinal direction with a discharge gap interposed therebetween are provided outside of a back side flat surface of a thin glass tube, the thin glass tube filled with a discharge gas having a front side flat surface and the back side flat surface facing each other on a transverse section, wherein, starting with trigger discharge that is initially generated in the discharge gap as a result of a voltage increase when a voltage with a sine waveform or an inclined waveform is applied between both electrodes, the discharge gradually extends so as to move in the longitudinal direction of the electrodes. Ultraviolet light having high luminous efficiency and emission intensity is obtained from the flat surface at the front surface side by forming an ultraviolet phosphor layer in the thin glass tube and driving the device with a sine-wave voltage.

A gas discharge lamp has an inner bulb with a discharge vessel with two sealing sections thereon, from which electrodes protrude into the discharge vessel, each electrically connected with a conductor in the associated sealing section to supply current to the electrodes. The lamp also has an outer bulb surrounding the discharge vessel, leaving a cavity therebetween. Close to at least one of the electrodes in or near a transitional area between the discharge vessel and the associated sealing section on an outside of the inner bulb is arranged potential-free a conductive structure which on application of a voltage to the electrodes influences the electrical field adjacent the electrodes such that a discharge arc travels from the electrode first in the direction of a wall section of the discharge vessel adjacent the electrode and then over the inside of the wall toward the other electrode.

When an insulated gate bipolar transistor is incorporated in a drive circuit of a flash lamp, so that a light emission pattern of the flash lamp is freely defined, a temperature change pattern of a surface of a semiconductor wafer that receives the emission of flash light can be adjusted. The length of diffusion of impurities can be controlled by rising a surface temperature of the semiconductor wafer from a preheating temperature to a diffusion temperature through emission of flash light and maintaining the surface temperature at the diffusion temperature for a time period not shorter than 1 millisecond and not longer than 10 milliseconds. Subsequently, the impurities can be activated by rising the surface temperature of the semiconductor wafer from the diffusion temperature to an activation temperature.

A high-pressure discharge lamp with a burner unit which has a discharge vessel which encloses a discharge space and in which two electrodes are arranged opposite one another, wherein the electrodes each have an electrode support and an electrode tip, wherein the electrode tips are located opposite one another to form an electric arc during operation of the high-pressure discharge lamp, wherein at least a first one of the electrodes is configured as a coil electrode which has an electrode support and an electrode coil formed by a wire wound around the electrode support, wherein an exposed end of the electrode support forms the electrode tip, and wherein the electrode coil is arranged in a tip region of the electrode support adjacent to the electrode tip in the discharge space, and wherein an antenna to which voltage can be applied is routed along an outer surface of the discharge vessel. The electrode coil of the first electrode has a protrusion that protrudes beyond the outer circumference of the electrode coil toward the antenna.