Characterization of the electrode erosion by spectrum analysis at low pressure gas-discharge lamps

Summary form only given. The development of highly effective gas-discharge lamps led to a large use of the illuminating engineering. Today such lamps determine the lighting of roads, industrial plants, sports facilities and many other public places. The superiority of the gas-discharge lamps over the conventional lamps expresses itself apart from the luminous efficiency, i.e. the produced light-intensity per fed electrical achievement, particularly in the higher life span (7000-9000 hours). The electrodes near processes have crucial influence on the life span of the light sources of light and the stability of their operation. So that it is connected to the products of the electrode evaporation on the quartz or glass and to a reduction of the light-flux. The erosion behaviour of the electrodes in gas-discharge lamps was the subject of many investigations. Beside the procedures of the measurement of the density of the spool and the secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) attempts were likewise undertaken with the help of indirect and direct spectroscopic methods, in order to seize the evaporation products quantitatively. An indirect method was described by other investigations. Where the measurement of the absolute alkaline metal atomic demolition is done by means of radioactive tracers. The purpose of these investigations is the regulation of the erosion electrodes in normal fluorescent lamps without intervention in the discharge. The evaporation rates from the observed spectral lines intensity of the cathode materials e.g. the barium and the strontium should make the estimation for the life span possible.