The Control of High Power Xenon Flashes by Magnetic Switching

The xenon-arc discharge is very susceptible to a magnetic field and the arc can be defected to extinction. In this way a lamp can fulfill a dual purpose, by emitting light radiation while functioning as its own circuit breaker. Investigations have centered around a 2-kw design of a compact-source xenon lamp with increasing gas pressures and with lamp currents of up to 1000 amp. By the use of a magnetic field to extinguish the arc and thereby break the lamp current, substantially square-wave pulses of light are obtained in the region of 10 to 100 msec. With these high lamp currents the lead-acid battery provides a satisfactory source of power and with light flashes of up to 50 kw the arc characteristics and the light efficiency output have been studied. Comparisons are also made with earlier discharge lamp designs which are of particular interest for high-speed photography. — Magnetic arc switching is already being used successfully as a means of providing an occulting light in the Dungeness Lighthouse. Higher flash powers are switched with shorter durations enabling higher-speed camera operation and entering afield where rotating mirror cameras demand still higher light intensities.

Print ISSN

0361-4573

Published

1961-02

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/J15273