Color image input unit - - - - said cold cathodes with noble gas discharge tube.

摘要

A rare gas cold cathode discharge tube (1) is provided with a conductive member (15) nearby a main electrode (13-a), allowing to stabilize the quantity of emitted light even when an intermittent lighting with a period of several mil­liseconds is carried out. The use of such rare gas cold cathode discharge tube as lighting apparatus allows an ima­ge input unit to be realized which is moderate in cost and less space-consuming, still ensuring a color correction function to enhance the color reproducibility of a printing output of the read image and a light adjusting function of the lighting apparatus to enhance the S/N ratio of the read image.