The characteristics in the high frequency operation of fluorescent lamps have already been reported in many papers, but the basic electrical and optical characteristics have not yet been reported. In this paper, the electrical and optical characteristics, for example, the voltage drops at the electrodes and the positive column, the electrode losses and efficiencies of the light output, the ultraviolet radiation and of the light radiated by the mercury atoms, etc., have been measured for the frequencies from 60 to 3000 cycles.
The following results have been obtained by these measurements;
(1) The lamp efficiency, the wave form of the light output and the phase between the tube current and the light depend on the ballast circuits and the characteristics of the phospher used.
(2) The production efficiency of the ultraviolet 2537 Å is much influenced by the potential drop in the'positive column of the discharge lamp.
(3) The wave form and the efficiency of the light output in positive column are affected by the time constant of the transient response character of the radiated light from the phospher.
(4) The lamp efficiency increases as the operation frequency increases and this increase mainly results from the decrease of the electrode loss below 1000 cycles and the increase of the production efficiency of ultraviolet 2537 Å in positive column above 1000 cycles.

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In this report some characteristics of the glow starters are described.
Glow discharge time (tg), which means the period till a bimetal electrode makes contact with the fixed electrode when a voltage is applied. is obtained by the following experimental equation:
_??_where. θ_f: final temperature-rise
θ₀: critical temperature rise 1/α=τ: time cnstant
It is concluded that the time constant is included in the range of τ=1.0-2.0 seconds.

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