Lamps Vapour

Vapour discharge lamp. See Electrodeless discharge lamp Vapour generation. 

Almost all emission that we usually encounter, such as that from a sodium vapour or tungsten filament lamp, is of the spontaneous type. 

Until the advent of lasers the most intense monochromatic sources available were atomic emission sources from which an intense, discrete line in the visible or near-ultraviolet region was isolated by optical filtering if necessary. The most often used source of this kind was the mercury discharge lamp operating at the vapour pressure of mercury. Three of the most intense lines are at 253.7 nm (near-ultraviolet), 404.7 nm and 435.7 nm (both in the visible region). Although the line width is typically small the narrowest has a width of about 0.2 cm, which places a limit on the resolution which can be achieved. 

Whereas the emission spectrum of the hydrogen atom shows only one series, the Balmer series (see Figure 1.1), in the visible region the alkali metals show at least three. The spectra can be excited in a discharge lamp containing a sample of the appropriate metal. One series was called the principal series because it could also be observed in absorption through a column of the vapour. The other two were called sharp and diffuse because of their general appearance. A part of a fourth series, called the fundamental series, can sometimes be observed. 

Atomic Fluorescence System - Millennium Excalibur PSA 10.055 -was used in our work. This system consists of the autosampler, the integrated continuous flow vapour generator and the atomic fluorescence spectrometer with the boosted dischar ge hollow cathode lamp and a control computer. 

Hollomon s ethos, combined with his ferocious energy and determination, and his sustained determination to recruit only the best researchers to join his group, over the next 15 years led to a sequence of remarkable innovations related to materials, including man-made diamond, high-quality thermal insulation, a vacuum circuit-breaker, products based on etched particle tracks in irradiated solids, polycarbonate plastic and, particularly, the Lucalox alumina envelope for a metal-vapour lamp. (Of course many managers besides Hollomon were involved.) A brilliant, detailed account of these innovations and the arrangements that made them possible was later written by Guy Suits and his successor as director, Arthur Bueche (Suits and Bueche 1967). Some of these specific episodes will feature later in this book, but it helps to reinforce the points made here about Hollomon s coneeption of broad research on materials if I point out that the invention of translucent alumina tubes for lamps was... 

Instruments for the measurement of fluorescence are known as fluorimeters or spectrofluorimeters. The essential parts of a simple fluorimeter are shown in Fig. 18.1. The light from a mercury-vapour lamp (or other source of ultraviolet light) is passed through a condensing lens, a primary filter (to permit the light band required for excitation to pass), a sample container, a secondary filter (selected to absorb the primary radiant energy but transmit the fluorescent... 

Lemington H.26X., made by the General Electric Co., is a very hard borosilicate glass of high softening temperature. Tte Mg point is 780°C. It is used in high pressure mercury vapour lamps. The linear expansion coefficient is 4-6 x 10 from 20 to 580°C. Sodium and potassiiun are absent and alumina is present in quantity in this glass. 

This type, made by the General Electric Co., is resistant to sodium vapour and is used in sodiiun vapour discharge lamps. It has a very high boric oxide content, a low softening temperature, and a low electrical resistance. It is used as an internal layer in soda glass tubing X.8. ... 

The first high-intensity sodium lamp was introduced in Europe in 1931. Figure 9.26 shows a schematic view of a sodium lamp it comprises a glass shell containing sodium vapour at low pressure, metal electrodes to generate a current, and neon gas. The pressure inside the tube is at a relatively low pressure of 30 Pa, so some of the sodium evaporates to become a vapour. The inner side of the lamp is coated with the remainder of the metallic sodium as a thin film. 

The lamp above is more properly called a low-pressure sodium lamp. Such lamps are ideal for street and road illumination, but the monochromatic nature of the emission makes seeing in colour impossible. An adaptation which emits a range of colours is the high-pressure sodium-vapour lamp, which is similar to that described above but contains a mixture of mercury and sodium. Such lamps emit a whiter light and are useful for extra-bright lighting in places such as road intersections, car parks and sports stadia. 

Strip lighting in a classroom, hospital, business hall or kitchen is often called fluorescent lighting, although in fact it is a phosphorescent process, as above. Each bulb consists of a thin, hollow glass tube that is sealed at both ends. It contains gas such as helium, argon or krypton, and a drop of liquid mercury (about 0.5 mg of mercury per kilogram of lamp, or 0.5 parts per million). Like the neon and sodium lamps above, the pressure inside the tube is about 30 Pa, so the mercury evaporates to become a vapour. It is the mercury that yields the light, albeit indirectly. 

Frequently colourless substances can also be separated and purified by this procedure provided that the chromatogram, prepared in a tube of special glass or quartz, can be divided up in the light of a mercury vapour lamp, in accordance with the fluorescence induced. For example, carotene has thus been separated into three components (R. Kuhn, P. Karrer). 

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