Spectroscopic measurement of radiation of high-pressure mercury discharge lamps

Abstract

Compact size and high efficiency are important features for projection systems. As the most often used sources for projection optics, short arc lamps are characterized by their impressive economy and the ability to produce extremely bright light from small dimensional sources. In this contribution the old principle of back reflection towards the sources is applied to a high-pressure mercury discharge lamp with a reflector to improve the radiance of the source by 35% at a certain reduced solid angle. Increasing the optical thickness of sources is equivalent to reducing the total phase space (etendue) of emitted radiation by the same factor, which is very useful for compacting sources. In addition, by comparing the forward radiation and the back-reflected radiation obtained from spectroscopic measurements, we calculate the absorptivity, emissivity, absorption, and emission coefficients of the plasma of the arc lamp based on Kirchhoff’s Law and Planck’s equation which is necessary for determining its temperature and pressure.