Deuterium reference lamp system

About two years ago, a student and I designed and built a special UV calibration light source system that we now use at work with our spectrometers. The picture shows the open driver unit (right), with its internal electronics exposed, and the light source (left). That photo was shot at the end of the project, I was doing some final checks before putting the system in regular service, and we can see the blue fluorescence from a piece of paper on the left, exposed to the shortwave radiation emitted by the deuterium lamp. I switched it on only for the pictures.

The biggest uncertainty in the system design was the effect of the 1-m long shielded cable (so, high capacitance) on the lamp's ignition and on the driver's operation. The system is still being used in the lab today and I am happy to report that there has not been any issues so far :)