Glow discharge lamp
AssigneesUniversite Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1, Jacques Pelletier
InventorsAna Lacoste, Jacques Pelletier
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Abstract
The disclosure includes a glow-discharge lamp including: an elongate casing transparent to illuminating radiation and containing a plasma gas; a device for applying an electric field for maintaining a plasma in the so-called positive column region of the casing, the device including two electrodes forming an anode and a cathode located in the casing at each end thereof; and a radio-frequency or microwave cathode plasma source arranged in the casing in relation to the cathode-forming electrode, such as to generate a high-frequency discharge located on the surface of the electrode in order to generate the plasma. The disclosure also includes a lighting method of such a glow-discharge lamp.
Claims22
A glow discharge lamp comprising:
- an elongated envelope, transparent to lighting radiation and containing a plasma gas;
- a device for applying an electric field suitable for maintaining a plasma in a region of the envelope called a positive column, including two electrodes constituting an anode and a cathode situated in the envelope, at each end of the envelope;
- and
- a microwave or radio-frequency cathode plasma source positioned in the envelope relative to the electrode constituting the cathode so as to generate a localized high-frequency discharge on the surface of the electrode to generate the plasma.
A lighting method using a glow discharge lamp, the lamp comprising an elongated envelope transparent to lighting radiation and containing a plasma gas (2), and two electrodes constituting an anode and a cathode, situated inside the envelope, at each end of the envelope, the method comprising:
- generating a microwave or radio-frequency cathode plasma by a localized high-frequency discharge at the surface of the electrode constituting the cathode, the discharge being created by a microwave or radio-frequency cathode plasma source positioned in the envelope;
- and
- applying, between the anode and the cathode, a voltage suited for applying an axial electric field for maintaining the plasma in a region of the envelope called a positive column.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.