GAS DISCHARGE LAMP

摘要

A gas discharge lamp is described with at least one capacitive coupling structure (10, 10'), which lamp has the particular feature that the coupling structure (10, 10') is provided for generating an electromagnetic field with a frequency below approximately 50 MHz, that it is formed by a metal element (101, 101') surrouded by a dielectric layer (102, 102') at least in the region of a discharge space, which layer is less than approximately 10 µm thick. It was surprisingly found that operation at low frequencies is possible with such a coupling structure, for which efficient ballasts are available. A further advantage is that this coupling structure compared with known coupling structures for frequencies below approximately 50 MHz only cause a minimum shadow effect. The efficacy of the entire system is considerably higher than that of known lamps of this kind for these two reasons.