Current limitation and pressure gradients in the non-uniform long positive column

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Abstract
It is shown experimentally, using a mercury discharge tube, that the well-documented compression of the gas towards the anode in a low-pressure positive column of uniform cross section can give place to a rarefaction if the cross section is made spatially periodic. This negative pressure gradient has a profound effect on the current-carrying capacity of such columns. A theoretical interpretation of this behaviour is based on the suggestion that, in reflection at the wall sheath in the non-uniform column, the electrons lose, on the average, a proportion of their anode-directed momentum. The periodic column thus provides a case where application of customary assumptions following Langmuir's work leads to new results.

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