Patent ID: 7038379

Claim:
A high pressure discharge lamp, comprising: a pair of electrodes disposed in a bulb opposite each other and each electrode of said pair of electrodes being connected to one of a pair of conductive elements which are sealed at a sealing portion of said bulb, wherein a part of each electrode of said pair of electrodes is sealed within said sealing portion to form a contacting portion formed by the part of each electrode of said pair of electrodes in physical contact with a material of said bulb, and a maximum length L max , of the contacting portion is defined as: L max (mm)≦200/( P×D ); and a minimum length, L min , of the contacting portion is defined as: L min (mm)≧0.8/( D 2 ×π) or L min (mm)≧0.7 whichever is longer, where D is the diameter (mm) of the corresponding electrode of said pair of electrodes and P is the power (W) supplied to the corresponding electrode of said pair of electrodes, and wherein said contacting portion terminates inside and beyond an edge of one of said pair of conductive elements.