Research in Surface-Wave Sustained Plasma Fluorescent Lamps

Abstract

A cylindrical fluorescent lamp driven by a surface-wave sustained plasma (SWP) generator designed in our lab is researched. A technique to diagnose the SWP plasma column is introduced. Principal physical properties, ion density and electron temperature and the luminance of a fluorescent lamp were studied. Influence factors of luminance such as the microwave power, the gas pressure were studied. The radial distribution of luminance and ion density was also researched. The results show the SWP column is able to generate plasma of about 3ev electron temperature and 1017 m-3 ion density. It is found that the luminance at 200 mm above the base can be about 8000 cd/m2. The luminance changes with the microwave power and the pressure.