SULFUR LAMPS - PROGRESS IN THEIR DEVELOPMENT

The discovery that a sulfur plasma produced high quality efficient lig ht was announced in 1992 at the Lighting Sciences Conference. Since th en, several prominent demonstrations of high power (>3 kW of microwave energy) sources have taken place. This paper will review the progress made towards commercializing the technology with a new lamp serving t he upper end of the general lighting discharge lamp market. The lamp s ystems employ a single microwave power source and produce more than 12 0,000 Im. Operating efficiencies are discussed as well as the terminol ogy required to compare the lamp's performance to conventional electro ded sources. For example, the power delivered to the lamp is not readi ly measured with electrodeless lamps, but this value is always reporte d on for conventional are lamps. Projected lifetime is reviewed. The g eometry of the source is shown and suitable optical designs discussed. Data will be presented on lamp flicker, CRI, and other optical charac teristics. We will comment on the safety and regulatory requirements f or this microwave source and show initial compliance data.