A gas-discharge tube used, especially in photography, to provide an electronic flash when a current is suddenly passed through it.
（尤指用于摄影的）闪光管
Example sentencesExamples
Unlike the short, high-thrust burns of most chemical rocket engines, the ion engine emits only a faint blue glow of electrically charged atoms of xenon, the same gas found in photo flash tubes and in many lighthouse bulbs.
The capacitor is connected to the two electrodes on the flash tube at all times, but unless the xenon gas is ionized, the tube can't conduct the current, so the capacitor can't discharge.
That's why the electronic flash on a camera uses a capacitor - the battery charges up the flash's capacitor over several seconds, and then the capacitor dumps the full charge into the flash tube almost instantly.
Definition of flash tube in US English:
flash tube
noun
A gas discharge tube used, especially in photography, to provide an electronic flash when a current is suddenly passed through it.
（尤指用于摄影的）闪光管
Example sentencesExamples
That's why the electronic flash on a camera uses a capacitor - the battery charges up the flash's capacitor over several seconds, and then the capacitor dumps the full charge into the flash tube almost instantly.
Unlike the short, high-thrust burns of most chemical rocket engines, the ion engine emits only a faint blue glow of electrically charged atoms of xenon, the same gas found in photo flash tubes and in many lighthouse bulbs.
The capacitor is connected to the two electrodes on the flash tube at all times, but unless the xenon gas is ionized, the tube can't conduct the current, so the capacitor can't discharge.