systems. The light emitting plasma (LEP) solution was great as it offered a much higher lumen density than its HID counterparts, approximately 50% power reduction and could be at full intensity in around 45-60 seconds from either a cold or hot strike, unlike its HID predecessors. Plasma lamps Plasma lamps are a family of light sources that generate light by exciting a plasma inside a closed transparent burner or bulb using radio frequency (RF) power. Typically, such lamps use a noble gas or a mixture of these gases and additional materials such as metal halides, sodium, mercury, or sulfur. A waveguide is used to constrain and focus the electrical field into the plasma. In operation the gas is ionized and free electrons, accelerated by the electrical field, collide with gas and metal atoms. Some electrons circling around the gas and metal atoms are excited by these collisions, bringing them to a higher energy state. When the electron falls back to its original state, it emits a photon, resulting in visible light or ultraviolet radiation depending on the fill materials. The first plasma lamp was an ultraviolet curing lamp with a bulb filled with argon and mercury vapor, developed by Fusion UV. That lamp led Fusion Systems to develop the sulfur lamp, which concentrates microwaves through a hollow waveguide to bombard a bulb filled with argon and sulfur. In the past, the magnetron that generates the microwaves limited the reliability of electrodeless lamps. Solid-state RF generation works and gives long life. However, using solid-state chips to generate RF is currently around fifty times more expensive than using a magnetron, and so only appropriate for high-value lighting niches. Dipolar of Sweden has showed that it is possible to greatly extend the life of magnetrons to over 40,000 hours making low-cost plasma lamps possible. Plasma lamps are currently produced by Ceravision and Luxim and in development by Topanga Technologies. Ceravision has introduced a combined lamp and luminaire under the trade name Alvara for use in high bay and street lighting applications. It uses an optically clear quartz waveguide with an integral burner so all the light from the plasma passes through. The small source also lets the luminaire use more than 90% of the available light compared with 55% for typical HID fittings. Ceravision claims the highest Luminaire Efficacy Rating (LER) of any light fitting on the market, and to have created the