Metal Halide Mercury Lamp Spectrum

1 how it works.

Metal halide mercury lamp spectrum.

In 1860 john thomas way used arc lamps operated in a mixture of air and mercury vapor at atmospheric pressure for lighting. Metal halide salts exhibit lower vapor pressures than the elemental mercury added to the bulb which also serves as a buffering gas to determine the operating voltage of the lamp. Thus mercury controls the current voltage lamp characteristics while the metal halide salts contribute primarily to the quantity of light output and the spectral. These lamps feature special chemical compounds known as halides that produce light in most regions of the spectrum.

They offer high efficacy excellent color rendition long service life and good lumen maintenance. The lamp uses mercury vapor to create the powerful light like the high pressure mercury vapor but includes other metals halide salts to improve the color. The german physicist leo arons 1860 1919 studied mercury discharges in 1892 and developed a lamp based on a mercury arc. Charles wheatstone observed the spectrum of an electric discharge in mercury vapor in 1835 and noted the ultraviolet lines in that spectrum.

Developed in the 1960s they are similar to mercury vapor lamps but contain additional metal halide compounds in the quartz arc tube. Some manufacturers mix the metal halide technology with others to improve light output and add a few variations into the color spectrum for a more complete solution. A halogen is a monovalent element which readily forms negative ions. Usually they re rated with a high lumen output of around 100 lm per watt a lamp life of up to 20 000 hours and pretty decent degradation rates.