Xenon Lamp

Definition

Lamps that produce light as a result of an electrical discharge, generated between two electrodes, in a high-pressure pure xenon gas, which is contained in a transparent bulb.

Note: So-called xenon gas discharge lamps for automobile lighting are in fact metal halide gas discharge lamps in which xenon gas does not contribute to the radiation but is added solely to facilitate ignition of the lamp. These lamps do not belong to the category of pure xenon lamps and are therefore not described here.

Short-Arc Xenon Lamps (Fig. 1)

The light-emitting surface of short-arc xenon lamps is a near-point source of very high luminance with excellent and constant color properties. They are developed as an energy-efficient and safe substitute for the awkward and flammable carbon arc lamps used until the 1960s in movie projectors in cinemas. The first movie projection using a short-arc xenon lamp was demonstrated in 1950 in West Berlin by OSRAM. Today’s short-arc xenon gas discharge lamps are...