How does plasma tv work

The dielectric layer allows for more charge to gather between the electrodes and the cells. On the projection side of the display, the electrodes are vertical and transparent. These electrodes are known as the transparent display electrodes and are coated in magnesium oxide, while the back electrodes are known the address electrodes.

The outer most part of the plasma display are the glass layers, one of which the image is shown on. The way plasma displays work is similar to how a florescent light bulb works, gas is used to excited phosphors which produce visible light. In plasma displays a voltage is given to the gas within the cells and the gas becomes ionized, creating plasma. The plasma itself does not provide the light energy itself, rather it produces ultraviolet, UV, light that excites the phosphors that are coated on to each cell.

The color that is produced either red, green, or blue is dependent on the phosphor. By varying the intensity of the red, green, and blue cells, all colors in the spectrum can be achieved. In order to start this process, a control box within the display gives power to both electrodes at the specific intersection that a pixel is needed to be illuminated. The electrode then provides a voltage that adds electrons to the gas mixture.

The addition of electrons causes collisions between the added electrons and the neutral atoms of the gas. These atoms lose some of their electrons which causes them to ionize and have a net charge, creating plasma.

As current from the electrodes goes through the cells, the now positive ions and electrons move to the respective side of the current, positive ions move to the negative side and electrons move to the positive side. During this movement more collisions occur between the electrons and ions.

This creates energy and causes the electrons that are in the ion to get to an excited state briefly. When these electrons come down to the lower orbital of less energy, they release the excess energy in the form of an UV photon. The energy from the UV photons cause the phosphors in the cell to be excited and emit light in the visible spectrum, a seen in figure 2.

A plasma screen consists of pockets of Xenon and Neon gas mixture called plasma, which is located between two electrodes. The plasma is in between two parallel plates of glass similar to that of a LCD television. The address electrodes sit behind the cells or pockets, along the rear glass plate.

Transparent display electrodes surrounded by an insulating dielectric material covered by a magnesium oxide protective layer, are mounted above the pockets along the front glass plate. Both sets of electrodes extend across the whole screen.

The display electrodes are arranged horizontally in rows along the screen and the address electrodes are arranged in vertically in columns. The vertical and horizontal electrodes form a basic grid that we refer to as pixels. Plasma is the central element of fluorescent light. The plasma gas is made up of free flowing ions and electrons. If you introduce free electrons into inert gasses by establishing an electrical voltage across it, negatively charged particles will rush toward the positively charged area.

The particles will be constantly bumping into each other and these collisions excite the gas atoms in the plasma, causing them to release photons of energy. The atoms of xenon and neon gas release light photons when they are excited. If you introduce more electrons by applying a voltage through the gas then they will begin to collide with atoms, knocking off electrons and turning them into ions.

Then negatively charged particles will start to move towards the positively charged area, and vice versa. This causes the atomic equivalent of a motorway pile up, with particles smashing into each other and the xenon and neon gases used in plasma screens releasing photons of light. Most of this light is ultraviolet light which is invisible, but this is turned into visible light by painting the tiny cells with phosphoric material. The result is that plasma displays are far shallower than older TVs, you can mount them on a wall and conveniently hide them behind a well-placed curtain.

They can also be scaled up by adding more pixels and enough computing firepower to run them.