Field emission from microstructured thin liquid metal films

Abstract

Field emission from liquid metal surfaces occurs with different mechanisms such as liquid metal vapor arc cathode spots and liquid metal electron sources. At rather bulk liquid metal coverages, in both cases the emission performance is also affected by hydrodynamic and electrohydrodynamic effects, respectively. Reducing the liquid metal coverage to a relative thin liquid metal film, the field-induced microstructure, as well as the intrinsic microstructure of the liquid metal film on a solid substrate dominates, and new emission modes appear. Representative examples for that are the film emission mode of liquid metal film cathodes (LMFC) and the stationary emission mode of microstructured liquid metal electron sources (MILMES). Both field emission from a cathode spot as well as from a field emitter in vacuum is examined in the scope of prospective applications in pulsed power technology.