The first indicator based on liquid metal multiple tip field emitter

Liquid metal multiple tip (LMMT) electron emitter was created by pulling liquid metal (indium gallium eutectic) through holes in a nuclear membrane of polyethylene terephtalate (Popov et al., 2001), The track membranes presently employed in selective clean-up filters are obtained by bombarding a film with heavy ions having energy of several tens of megaelectron volts. After irradiation, the film is illuminated by ultraviolet light and subjected to chemical etching. These membranes are produced by cyclotron of Physico-technical Institute. Liquid metal multiple tip field emitters have some advantages in comparison with solid-state field emitters and explosive electron emitters: unlimited life expectancy, large current densities (>100 mA per sq. cm), practically unlimited surface, stable emission in poor vacuum (10/sup -4/ Torr) (Popov et al., 2002). In this work, we report about use of LMMT field emitter on the base of polyethylene terephtalate film with 3 /spl mu/m-diameter holes as the simplest light indicator. The design of the indicator consists of flat accelerating grid and phosphor glass as collecting electrode. The work stability, surface distribution, longlife are discussed in paper.