《Chp 6 Lamp Phosphors》.pdf

CHAPTER 6 Lamp Phosphors 6.1 Introduction The previous chapters presented an outline of the phenomenon of luminescence in solids. They form the background for the following chapters which discuss lumines- cent materials for several applications, viz. lighting (Chapter 6), television (Chap- ter 7), X-ray phosphors and scintillators (Chapters 8 and 9), and other less-general applications (Chapter 10). These chapters will be subdivided as follows: - the principles of the application - the preparation of the materials - the luminescent materials which were or are in use or have a strong potential to become used; a discussion of their luminescence properties in terms of Chapters 2-5 - problems in the field. The emphasis will be on the materials in view of the topic of this book. 6.2 Luminescent Lighting [1-3] Luminescent lighting started even before the Second World War*. The ultraviolet radiation from a low-pressure mercury discharge is converted into white light by a phosphor layer on the inner side of the lamp tube. These lamps are much more efficient than the incandescent lamp: a 60 W incandescent lamp yields 15 ImlW, a standard 40 W luminescent lamp 80 ImIW. A luminescent lamp is filled with a noble gas at a pressure of 400 Pa, containing 0.8 Pa mercury. In the discharge the mercury atoms are excited. When they return to the ground state, they emit (mainly) ultraviolet radiation. About 85% of the emitted radiation is at 254 nm and 12% at 185 nm. The remaining 3% is found in the longer wavelength ultraviolet and visible region (365, 405, 436 and 546 nm). * We use the term luminescent lighting instead of the generally used fluorescent lighting, since most of the luminescent materials that are used do not show fluor