A discharge lamp device which drives a discharge tube filled with a rare gas
and
has a first electrode mounted at the inside of the tube and a second electrode
mounted at the outside of the tube. The lamp device includes a driving circuit
that applies a voltage between the first and second electrodes. The driving circuit
applies a positive rectangular wave voltage to the first electrode with a potential
of the second electrode being a reference potential (0V) A backlight includes at
least one discharge tube and the discharge lamp device.
