Acceleration of re-ignition of high pressure mercury discharge lamps using photo-pre-ionization

High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps are difficult to re-ignite rapidly because of the high pressure of metal vapor at high temperatures. We have succeeded in reducing the re-ignition time of high-pressure mercury lamps by using a pre-ionization step where an excess of electrons are generated by UV laser irradiation into the lamp. The effect of changing the laser focal point of the UV laser in the lamp and the position of an auxiliary electrode were also investigated. The time interval for re-ignition was reduced from 230s to 100s by laser irradiation near to the cathode. The results clearly showed that the effect of accelerating the re-ignition time by the pre-ionization step was determined by the behavior of excess electrons generated during the UV laser irradiation.