OSRAM SYLVANIA INC. is a major U.S. manufacturer of high-intensity lighting. Among its products is the Lumalux TM line of high-pressure sodium vapor arc lamps, which are used for industrial, highway, and street lighting. The key to the performance of these lamps is the polycrystalline alumina (PCA) tube that is used to contain the plasma that is formed in the electric arc. That plasma consists of ionized sodium, mercury, and xenon vapors. The key attributes of the PCA tubes are their transparency ({approximately}97% total transmittance in the visible), their refractoriness (inner wall temperature can reach l2OOC), and their chemical resistance (sodium and mercury vapor are extremely corrosive). The current efficiency of the lamps is very high, up to 100 initial lumens per watt. (Compare incandescent lamps 10-20 lumens per watt, fluorescent lamps 25-90 lumens per watt.)