tesla coil in rarified atmosphere/ induction lamp

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Jolyon Vater Cox by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jolyon-at-vatercox.freeserve.co.uk>

Would it be possible operate a tesla coil in a rarified atmosphere to 
demonstrate the principle of an "induction lamp" - the high voltage between 
top and base of the secondary would initiate the discharge
and then the magnetic field would take over
inductively coupling the arc with the primary as a continous "halo" of 
ionized gas.

This sounds as though it might be an interesting experiment -has it been 
done before?