Rezumat
A low pressure amalgam lamps are widely used for water air and surface disinfection. Application of amalgam instead of pure mercury is allowed to design a powerful ultraviolet lamp with high efficiency and to improve ecological security of disinfection equipment. The purpose of this paper is the investigation of influence of oxide electrodes and quartz inside surface on the lamp burning time and ultraviolet intensity re- duction of low pressure lamps. We are showed the burning time of the arc discharge at the low pressure of the noble gases is defined by interaction of discharge plasma with inner quartz surface. A rare-earth metal oxide protective layer on the inner quartz surface is the way to increase the lamp burning time and to prevent of ultraviolet intensity reduction of low pressure amalgam lamps.