An electrode-less discharge lamp lighting apparatus which is electrically
connected to a dimming unit (2) is provided with: an electrode-less
fluorescent lamp (3); and a lighting circuit (4) operable to apply a
high-frequency voltage to the electrode-less fluorescent lamp (3), wherein
the lighting circuit (4) includes: an AC/DC converting unit (5) operable
to convert a phase-controlled AC voltage outputted from the dimming unit
(2) into a DC voltage; a DC/AC converting unit (6) operable to convert the
DC voltage into a high-frequency voltage; and a dimming controlling unit
(7) that includes a resistor (29), a switching element (28), and a timer
circuit (27) so as to detect a timing of a turn-on of the phase-controlled
AC voltage and to, based on the detected timing, allow a current whose
value is at least a threshold to flow across output terminals of the AC/DC
converting unit (5) for at least a duration of a time lag between the
turn-on of the phase-controlled AC voltage and the generation of the
high-frequency voltage by the DC/AC converting unit (6).
