MERCURY-VAPOR DISCHARGE LAMP FOR HOMOGENEOUS, PLANAR IRRADIATION

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mercury-vapor discharge lamp having a simple structure, which guarantees a highest possible homogeneity of the UV irradiation, even for a small distance to the surface to be treated.SOLUTION: A lamp envelope of the mercury-vapor discharge lamp is formed as a quartz-glass chamber defined by straight walls. The quartz-glass chamber has bottom, top, and side walls and is divided into a plurality of sub-chambers by separating webs. These sub-chambers are formed by connecting a non-linear gas-discharge channel. The gas-discharge channel is formed so as to extend over a gap which is formed between the separating webs extending alternately from one side wall to the opposite side wall and thereby connects adjacent sub-chambers in a fluid-communicating manner. One electrode is allocated to the front-most sub-channel and the other electrode is allocated to the rear-most sub-channel.