You mentioned fatigue in flash lamps as optical sources. Several points: Put   
   some Cl2 or Br in Xenon to quench excited states. It works for Geiger   
   counters. Second, wrap the trigger wire many turns around the flash tube. This   
   magnetic bottle may    
   penetrate better, even out space charge in glass, and confine electrons better   
   in Geiger mode.   
      
   I realize you don't have time for open-ended research, but the problem of   
   quieting Xenon flash tubes seems very analogous to the Geiger Mueller problem.    
      
   Say, which newsreader you like?   
   JB   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)