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From: tomb@hplsla.HP.COM (Tom Bruhns)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: exciting neon lamps
Message-ID: <5170003@hplsla.HP.COM>
Date: Wed, 14-Oct-87 17:13:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: hplsla.5170003
Posted: Wed Oct 14 17:13:06 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 16-Oct-87 07:20:21 EDT
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Organization: HP Lake Stevens, WA
Lines: 14

Related, but not a direct answer to the question:

Quite a while ago, I played around lighting a neon light (little NE-2
type) by putting it in the tank circuit of an RF power amplifier.
Acutally, it was a frequency multiplier chain, so you could get something
like 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz and 160 MHz.  As I recall, at the
lower frequencies, it glowed the usual orange.  As you put it into
higher-frequency tanks, it glowed more and more purple!  Very pretty.
Never looked at the optical spectrum, even though I was in a chemical
spectroscopy lab at the time.  (Yes, it's easy to excite neon by putting
it in a moderatly strong RF field.)

Tom Bruhns
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