What is a Deuterium Lamp?
Deuterium is an isotope of Hydrogen or Heavy Hydrogen. As a gas, it is sealed under pressure inside a quartz envelope. Sometimes the quartz bulb is encased in a metal cylinder for safety. How does the lamp work? There are electrodes inside the quartz envelope. The detector power supply will generate a very high voltage through the electrodes causing the deuterium gas to discharge and produce a bright, blue fluorescent light. After the lamp fires, the voltage level will drop down. How do I know if a Lamp is working properly? A deuterium lamp will emit a bright blue fluorescent light when it has fired. Hold a piece of white paper (a business card works well) near the lamp so that the light will shine onto the white paper. Is it bright blue? The lamp is lit. If you only see a yellow or orange light, this is the filament of the bulb. The lamp is dead. How long will the lamp last? This is a difficult question to answer. Our Deuterium lamps are warranted to last 1000 hours. However, some lam
