Abstract: Disclosed is a gas-discharge display panel having plural discharge cells arranged in a matrix. Each of the discharge cells is provided with a hot cathode consisting of conductive material having a shape which provides a heat capacity and heat conductivity as small as possible. Each cathode is coated by an electron emissive material having a small work function. As a result, the hot cathode can be heated to a required working temperature solely by the bombardment of particles contained in a discharge current itself, without requiring any externally supplied heating power to obtain a highly efficient use of applied driving power.

Abstract: A gas-discharge display panel comprises plural elongated minute gas-discharge cells arranged in matrix directly on inner faces of front and rear insulator plates, on opposite sides of which cells elongated anodes and cathodes are disposed respectively and which cells are driven by igniting pulses, sustaining pulse-trains and erasing pulses in response to picture signals to be displayed. In these cells glows appear closely by both of anodes and cathodes and excite fluorescent layers which are disposed on cell-walls at the closest distance, so that very high brightness and efficiency of gas-discharge display can be obtained with a simple structure, and further a memory function of gas-discharge can be effected by virtue of the sustaining pulse-trains.

Abstract: A pulse width luminance modulation system for driving a gas discharge panel in line at a time. The driving circuit for the discharge cell comprises a CR time constant element in order to enlarge the contrast range of the picture to be displayed. The discharge cell is caused to produce glow discharge when the pulse width of the pulse width modulation driving pulse is wider than a certain value depending on the CR time constant to produce normal pulse width luminance modulation of the glow discharge, and the discharge cell is caused to produce instantaneous irradiation of which the intensity is dependent on a stored charge in the capacitive element C of the CR element when the driving pulse width is narrower than the certain value so as to widen the low luminance range and by suitably selecting the value of the CR element for obtaining continuity of the two luminance characteristics, and further the input signal for making luminance modulation is applied with a correction in order to make the .gamma.

Abstract: A gaseous discharge display panel in which in order to display images of good quality with high brightness and high efficiency a discharge unit constituting of a picture element of the display panel is formed as an elongated fine section extending in parallel to the display plane and discharge is produced in the longitudinal direction of the discharge unit so as to display images with the aid of plane discharge. Particularly in order to display color images on the front and/or rear side of the discharge unit there is arranged an insulating sheet to which fluorescent materials are applied in such a manner that the fluorescent materials are opposed near a discharge plasma with a large area and an ultra-violet ray produced by the discharge can excite efficiently the fluorescent materials.