Experimental investigations of ionization growth in nitrogen. II

Abstract
For pt. I see ibid., vol. 6, no.1, 214 of 1973. Detailed spatial and temporal studies of ionization growth in nitrogen at moderate values of E/p ( approximately 100 V cm-1 Torr-1) have revealed that the dominant secondary electron emission arises from bombardment of the cathode surface by metastable N2(A3 Sigma u+) molecules following diffusion through the parent gas. It is shown that the peaks in omega / alpha against E/p curves observed in this gas are due to this effect and not to photo-electric effects, as inferred from previous measurements. Thin evaporated gold films show a particularly strong sensitivity to the influence of the metastable particles and have possible applications as metastable particle detectors.