Electrodeless discharge lamp and device for increasing the lamp's luminous development

摘要

An electrodeless fluorescent lamp containing a fill of a rare gas and mercury and a flag (14) disposed therein at a predetermined location in the lamp for increasing the rate of luminous development in the lamp. The flag (14) includes a pair of spaced-apart metallic foil sections (31) and a metallic mesh substrate (30) disposed between the foil sections (31) whereby to be shielded from ion bombardment of the discharge. A coating (30a) of indium which is adapted to amalgamate with the mercury is disposed on the mesh (30). The sections are joined together by spot-welding (32) to enable migration of mercury into and out of the space between the sections thereby enable the atoms to form an amalgam with the indium and be rapidly released therefrom.