Guide to UV Measurement
Power Supply
The power supply is responsible for delivering the energy needed to stimulate the mercury atoms in the bulb to generate excited mercury atoms that ultimately relax to the ground state by giving off excess energy in the form of photons. The excitation energy can be from an electrical discharge through the gas fill like an arc lamp or it can be microwave energy. Other elements such as xenon are also commonly used to generate UV and visible energy but these will be discussed elsewhere.