Energy Distributions for Thermal Field Emission

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Abstract
A sequence of total energy distribution curves for field emission was experimentally obtained for a tungsten emitter heated to 1570 K. Theoretical curves using the Miller-Good WKB-type approximation for tunneling probabilities are in good agreement with the experimental measurements. A significant feature of both sets of curves is a change in slope corresponding to electron emission near the top of the surface barrier where the emission mechanism changes from tunneling to thermionic emission. This feature is in accord with the classical-image force model for the surface potential which appears to be valid for distances approaching 3-4 Å to the metal surface.