Patent ID: 7550925

Claim:
A gas discharge lamp with an inner discharge vessel including an inner space, said inner discharge vessel surrounded by an outer bulb, wherein the outer bulb includes an electrically conductive first conductor surface arranged on an outer wall of the outer bulb of said discharge lamp and a second conductor surface embedded in the wall of the outer bulb, wherein said first conductor surface and said second conductor surface are mutually insulated and substantially enclose said discharge vessel in the form of a screen; a first electrode projecting into the discharge vessel, a second electrode projecting into the discharge vessel, said electrically conductive first conductor surface being conductively connected to the first electrode at an end region of the first electrode outside of the discharge vessel and at least partly surrounding the discharge vessel, and said electrically conductive second conductor surface being conductively connected to the second electrode at an end region of the second electrode outside of the discharge vessel and surrounding the discharge vessel, the first and second conductor surfaces being positioned outside of the discharge vessel thus forming a decoupling capacitor which short-circuits the first electrode and second electrode for high-frequency currents.