It is my great pleasure to announce that the SHINE (*S*ALTec*h*ips *IN*-13 *E*ndurance) experiment is now online.
For the first time since the Cold War era we are able to rigorously measure the end of life of a nixie tube due to darkening of its glass envelope. We are super nixited as we can now accurately answer the frequent question of the lifespan of a given nixie. The experimental method relies upon a theoretical basis and custom precision instrumentation developed by SALTechips specifically for this purpose. In summary, we are monitoring the optical absorbance demonstrated by the envelope of the tube as cathode material is being deposited by sputtering. The absorbance increases with time, thereby causing the tube to become dimmer. At some time a brightness threshold is reached which we treat as the end of life of the tube. The method and experimental setup are described in detail here: http://www.saltechips.com/lab/ This time we are measuring the IN-13 bargraph tube that is of immediate interest to us, although the tools and techniques can be used on most glow discharge tubes. We anticipate the experiment that is currently in progress to take a while.Data is plotted live as it is collected and we also have a live stream of the instrumentation screens available 24/7(follow link above or directly here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/from-the-salte-lab). These are the same screens we use to record data! Nearly 7000 minutes into the experiment and we are already collecting valuable data. The future of this method is bright as it is applied to measure and compare other nixie tubes! Alex -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/b16aa111-40c9-49f9-b6c5-f0a5b4a788a0%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
