On Sunday, 12 January 2014 23:23:12 UTC, Salmon Egg wrote:   
   > In article : > Does anyone know if a He Ne laser could be used to ionise   
   neon gas in a > hollow cathode lamp without power being applied to the HCL? If   
   so, what is > the minimum He Ne optical power (in mW) needed? > > Does anyone   
   know where I can get a    
   9-pin socket to fit a Pye Unicam (now > Thermo) 1.5" hollow cathode tube? Do   
   you have dimensions, or is it just a > standard vacuum valve base? > > Lastly,   
   does anyone know what circuitry might be in Karaltay's HCL Activator > apart   
   from the initial high    
   voltage kick and maintaining potential of a > normal HCL psu? Could it just be   
   a psu with a minium 2mA current to keep the > HCL ticking over? > > "The HCL   
   Activator is a power supply specially designed to activate hollow > cathode   
   lamps. In general, the    
   emission intensity and stability of an HCL can > diminish after prolonged   
   storage (longer than 3 months), or after prolonged > operation. After   
   Treatments with the HCL Activator, the durability of the > lamp and the   
   stability of the emission signal can    
   improve dramatically". I doubt that it is possible. Neutral inert gas atoms   
   have high ionization potentials. For Ne it is about 21.6eV. This far above the   
   energy available in visible light and beyond what will transmit through   
   optical windows. There may    
   be some process of cascading excitations that is possible, but that seems like   
   a long shot. Microwave, and presumably optical optical as well, radiation   
   might lead to such a cascade. Maybe, by focussing the beam with a lens you can   
   reach local electric    
   fields that might start tunneling or some other strange ionization method. Let   
   us know how you do. Then tell us how you got over the 25.6eV barrier. -- Sam   
   Conservatives are against Darwinism but for natural selection. Liberals are   
   for Darwinism but    
   totally against any selection.   
      
   Thank you Sam, as well as for replying to my email.   
   ( If I achieve the impossible with the Ar laser I will let you know :)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)