Irradiation device comprising a short arc discharge lamp

Claim 1

In an irradiation device comprising, in combination: a high-pressure discharge lamp comprising a translucent lamp vessel which is sealed in a vacuum-tight manner, a pair of current conductors each extending through a wall of said vessel, and a pair of electrodes each arranged on a respective one of said conductors and having a discharge path extending therebetween, said vessel being filled with ionizable gas; and at least one optical conductor having a first end with a light entrance window at said first end, said optical conductor being arranged laterally with respect to said discharge path of said lamp, the improvement comprising: said high-pressure discharge lamp being a short arc discharge lamp, said light entrance window comprising a convex entrance window within said lamp facing said discharge path, said optical conductor comprising a central core and an outer sheath having a different refractive index than said central core, the refractive index of said central core and said outer sheath being different than that of said translucent lamp vessel, and said at least one optical conductor being disposed with its first end sealed into said wall of said lamp vessel and extending toward and terminating at said convex entrance window for receiving light through said entrance window and transmitting the light out of said high-pressure discharge lamp through said optical conductor.