Mercury-Xenon Lamps

A Mercury-Xenon Lamps is a special lamp designed to provide high radiant energy in the ultraviolet region. Since an optimum mixture of mercury and xenon gas is enclosed, this lamp offers the characteristics of both Xenon lamps and super-high-pressure Mercury lamps. For example, the spectral distribution of a Mercury-Xenon Lamp includes a continuous spectrum from ultraviolet to infrared of the xenon gas and strong mercury line spectra in the ultraviolet to visible range. In comparison to super-high-pressure mercury lamps, the radiant spectrum in the ultraviolet region is higher in intensity and sharper in width. The Mercury-Xenon Lamp also features instantaneous starting and restarting, which are difficult with super-high-pressure mercury lamps, thus making them an excellent choice as ultraviolet light sources.

Conventional Mercury-Xenon Lamps have a shortcoming in that the arc point fluctuates and moves gradually with operating time as a result of the cathode erosion. Hamamatsu has used its many years of experience and expertise in the fields of photonics to produce Super- Quiet (SQ) Mercury-Xenon Lamps. The Hamamatsu SQ Mercury-Xenon Lamps employ a specially developed cathode which has minimized the cathode erosion, thus allowing extremely high stability and long life.