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On the emission of electrons from metals covered by thin films, in intense electric fields

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

T. E. Stern
Affiliation:
Trinity College

Extract

R. H. Fowler and L. Nordheim have presented a theory which seems to offer a satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon commonly known as the auto-electronic discharge, in which electrons are extracted from cold metallic cathodes by intense electric fields. Their theory considers the passage of electrons through a potential “hill” of the type shown in Fig. 1, where V is the potential energy of an electron at a point distant x units from the surface.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1929

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References

* Proc. Roy. Soc. A, Vol. CXIX, p. 173 (1928)Google Scholar

* I refer the reader to Watson's Bessel Functions (Cambridge, 1922) for all formulae involving Bessel functions. Watson's notation is used throughout this paper.Google Scholar

* Nordheim, , Zeit. f. Physik, Vol. XLVI, p. 833 (1928).CrossRefGoogle Scholar