Penning's "New Photo-Effect" in Pure Neon

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Abstract
The maintaining voltage of a Townsend discharge in pure neon was measured as a function of the illumination of the discharge with light from a neon arc, using a more sensitive circuit than that of Penning. In contrast to the Townsend discharge in slightly impure gas, in pure gas it is almost insensitive to illumination over a wide range of pressure, current, tube geometry and cathode material. With progressive cleaning of the gas, the change in maintaining voltage due to illumination passed from a small positive value through zero to a small negative value. The general equations of the discharge are developed, but a complete identification of the active atomic processes is not yet possible.

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