Xenon arc lamps are not full of mystery nor are they your typical light source. Let's take a look at the components of a xenon arc lamp as well as their operation. "Xenon" is pronounced "zeenon" not x-eon or zeon. Xenon is a rare gas which is a byproduct of producing liquid oxygen. It is a very rare and expensive gas to use in lamps as compared with argon or neon, but, when heated to extreme temperatures, xenon will produce light which most closely imitates daylight (6000° Kelvin).

A xenon lamp has three basic components. While it has no filament, it does contain two tungsten electrodes. The larger electrode which has a large flat face is called the anode and the smaller electrode which is somewhat pointed is called the cathode. Temperatures at the surface of the anode can reach upwards of 2000° C. Pure tungsten becomes a liquid around 3000° C, thus it is the best candidate to be used in a xenon arc lamp. The last component is the quartz outer shell or "envelope". Most envelopes begin as an ingot of quartz which is heated to extreme temperatures and its shape is formed via air expanding the ingot (such as a glass blower does). During lamp operation, the envelope can reach temperatures of up to 750° C, which is considerably higher than the melting point of regular glass or borofloat. Quartz will handle these extreme temperatures without a meltdown.

When the three components are assembled together, using sophisticated sealing techniques on either side of the lamp, xenon gas is introduced into the lamp via a fill tube. This process "pressurizes" the lamp. The fill tube is disconnected from the xenon pumping station and the fill tip on the lamp is sealed off by heating up the quartz again. The interesting part, "how does the xenon gas stay inside the lamp and not escape when disconnected from the pumping station?". The xenon gas is frozen by externally exposing the envelope to liquid nitrogen. A small pile of snow ends up inside of the envelope, it is then sealed at the fill tip. Xenon then re-vaporizes and pressurizes the lamp.

During operation, all wavelengths of light are produced. From the ultraviolet region through the infrared region. In order to eliminate the production of ozone (180 nanometers) titanium is used to dope the quartz envelope. This prohibits production of ozone by allowing most wavelengths below 300nm to be absorbed. In some cases, ozone production may be necessary, primarily for research or non destructive testing.

The actual electrical operation of the lamp is a simple, yet complicated set of events. Basically, the lamp is a short circuit of sorts. The anode or (+) is connected to a DC source and the cathode (-) is also connected to the same DC source. A high voltage boost is introduced into the circuit (typically 20KV (20,000 volts) to 40KV (40,000) at the anode. This boost provides the "kick" necessary to begin a flow of electrons between the anode and cathode. When the DC power supply senses that there is a flow, it kicks in to maintain this flow of electrons and the high voltage boost stops. Typically a xenon lamp operates in the 12 to 45 volt DC range. They do operate at a high current (amperage) as compared to the voltage. The larger the lamp, the higher the current.

The brightest point of the xenon arc lamp is at the cathode tip. There will be no greater concentration of light than at that point. The most efficient utilization of light which is produced is that which is collected keeping this principle in mind. Xenon arc lamps positioned inside a reflector at proper focus points achieve the greatest degree of success. Since the light is emitted at 360°, the collection must also be done in 360°. The Cermax^® lamp is pre-focused with the cathode tip located at the f1 of the reflector. Using larger, "bubble" type xenon arc lamps requires reflectors or "collectors" which can reach dimensions of over 50".