How Plasma Display Work

There was a time when television was unheard of and people revered their radio sets. Then, the greatest invention came about - television which combined moving picture with sound. And then came the cable, which left us spoilt for choice. Now we have a plasma television in place of the old bulky television set. A plasma television is the sleeker, sexier version of a TV set. You need not make too much room for it or give it a second thought before buying it because it will not eat up too much space anymore. Unlike a regular TV set, the plasma’s display works differently and before you buy it, you should know how!

A plasma television has a flat display panel. It is a wide screen television but in width it is very thin. Most of them are just about 15 cms thick. Like any other television’s display, a thousand tiny pixels light up inside the television, which emit beams of electrons for the video signal. It is similar in the case of plasma as well.

In a plasma display, it is the fluorescent light in the centre which is the plasma. It is a gas which made up of freely flowing ions which are also known as electrically charged atoms. When there is a fast motion of particles flowing, many collisions happen between the atoms and the electrons. Hence, with these, the electrons contained in the atom jump higher due to very high energy levels. Yet they fall back into their original places while emitting the energy in the form of photon. This photon is the light photon.

The ultraviolet photons are affected by the light photons. But because emission of radiation cannot be seen by the naked human eye, we do not see it. When the phosphor atoms come in contact with the ultraviolet light photons, they emit a visible light ray. This means that every different formulations of phosphor yields different light colours.

In plasma display, there are miniature cells that form the display panel. Inside this, the electricity is generally used to excite the atoms of gas within the cells and hence, they produce and emit the ultraviolet photons. And the UV photons form a phosphor lining on the cells which then emit energy in the form of coloured light which is visible. The small miniature cells are what are known as the pixels in the plasma display. Unlike regular television sets, the plasma contains millions of tiny cells between the two panes of the glass. And these contain xenon gas and neon gas in them.

The pixel brightness in a plasma display can be controlled via modulated techniques. Unlike a regular television set, a plasma display is equipped with a wide range of colour spectrum. Hence the image quality is sharper and one can watch hi-definition quality picture just like one gets to watch in the theatres. Given the fine picture quality, people prefer buying a plasma television instead of a regular TV.