High intensity discharge (HID) lamps are often initiated by the applic
ation of one or more short, high-voltage, breakdown pulses superimpose
d on a 50 or 60 Hz generator voltage. A successful transition from the
breakdown event to steady-state operating conditions in HID lamps req
uires that the lamp-circuit system be adequate to sustain the plasma c
reated during breakdown until the electrodes are heated to thermionic
temperatures. In this article, we use a one-dimensional (in the axial
direction) transient discharge model to study the conditions needed to
sustain the cold-cathode discharge after a breakdown event has occurr
ed. While the application of our one-dimensional model to real lamps i
s approximate, we find that the model predictions are consistent with
experimental results in HID lamps, a few of which are presented here.
The main conclusion from this work is that, after breakdown, the volta
ge necessary to sustain a glow discharge is dependent on the source im
pedance, the gas composition, and on the plasma density created by the
breakdown event. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.