Claims
- 1. A light source comprising;a sealed, light-transmissive tube containing gases or gas mixtures at a high pressure; an array of microhollow cathode discharges comprising multiple microhollow cathode discharges, wherein each microhollow cathode discharge comprises a first electrode mounted within said light-transmissive tube, said first electrode consisting of a conductor having a single hole or a plurality of holes therein, each of said holes having an arbitrary shape and an area in the range from 0.001 mm2 to 1 mm2; an anode comprising a distributed resistive ballast comprising a semi-insulating material mounted within said light-transmissive tube and spaced apart from the adjoining first electrode of the microhollow cathode discharge array by an insulator which has a hole or holes similar to the hole(s) in the first electrode; and electrical means for coupling electrical energy to said first and second electrodes for producing discharges in each of the holes in said first electrode; and an insulating spacer.
- 2. The light source of claim 1 wherein the semi-insulating material is silicon.
INTRODUCTION
This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/210,212 filed Jun. 8, 2000.
Government Interests
This work was supported by the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) under awards PHY-9722438 and PHY-9986692, ECS-98033997, and CTS-0078618; and by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under contract DAAD19-99-1-0277. The U.S. Government has certain rights in this invention.
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