Plasma screen technology is based on the same principles that make fluorescent light bulbs work. Each pixel (light dot) on a plasma display is essentially a tiny fluorescent bulb. Each pixel generates its light by using electrodes to apply a potential voltage to an inert gas (xenon, neon, and helium) trapped in small cell, thereby ionizing it (stripping it of its electrodes) and forming what’s called plasma.

The plasma ions then rush to the electrodes and collide, emitting ultraviolet light in the process. The ultraviolet light is then absorbed by a phosphor material coating the plasma cells.

Phosphor materials have the property of emitting visible light once struck by ultraviolet photons, and that’s how the pixels of a plasma display get their color.

The brightness of a pixel in a plasma screen is controlled by flickering it thousands of times a second, much faster than a human can notice. The percentage of time the pixel is “on” determines it’s apparent brightens to the human eye.

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Filed under: Plasma Screen Technology

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