ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION The use of He-Xe-Low Pressure Discharges in light sources is subject of a number of investigations. At the moment practical applications for common illumination purposes are hindered by it's too low light efficiency. While the efficiency of UV generation is quite good, the energy losses at conversion from 172 nm UV to visible light are too high when common Phosphors are used. This situation will change when multiphonon Phosphors become available in the next years. There is another situation in case of light sources for advertising purposes: At many applications the low temperature light output is much more important than efficiency at room temperature. We therefore started a research project to introduce Xe-discharges into this field of application. The results that we present here are part of this project. At the beginning of our investigations the practical question was: • What happens when so called "shell electrodes", which are in industrial use for Ne and Hg-Ne-
Ar discharges for many years, work with He Xe mixtures at low pressures? • What are the limitations in usable maximum AC current depending on electrode geometry? • Electrical losses and working temperatures had to be measured.
