flashtube
Sign in to saveAlso known as flash tube, electronic-flash lamp
frame|Helical xenon flashtube emitting Black body#Transmission, absorption, and reflection|greybody radiation as white light. (Animated version below.)
~45 min read
Article
28 sectionsContents
- Construction
- Glass envelopes
- Electrodes and seals
- Gases and fill pressure
- Operation
- External triggering
- Series triggering
- Simmer-voltage triggering
- Prepulse techniques
- Ablative flashtubes
- Variable pulse width control
- Electrical requirements
- Output spectrum
- Xenon
- Krypton and other gases
- Light production
- Intensity and duration of flash
- Lifetime
- Catastrophic failure
- Gradual failure
- Applications
- History
- Safety
- Popular culture
- Animation
- See also
- References
- External links
frame|Helical xenon flashtube emitting Black body#Transmission, absorption, and reflection|greybody radiation as white light. (Animated version below.)
A flashtube (flashlamp) produces an electrostatic discharge with an extremely intense, incoherent, full-spectrum white light for a very short time. A flashtube is a glass tube with an electrode at each end and is filled with a gas that, when triggered, ionizes and conducts a high-voltage pulse to make light. Flashtubes are used most in photography; they also are used in science, medicine, industry, and entertainment.