Secondary electron emission by multiply charged ions and its magnitude in vacuum arcs

Abstract

The emission of secondary electrons from atomically clean metal surfaces due to bombardment by singly and multiply charged ions is considered. Attention is restricted to ion kinetic energies of less than several hundred eV and molecular ions and alloy surfaces are both excluded. Previous measurements of the secondary electron emission coefficient gamma are used to derive an empirical relationship between gamma , the ionization energy of the ion and the work-function of the surface. This relationship is presented graphically and is more precise for multiply charged than for singly charged ions. It is proposed that the relationship is applicable to any combination of atomic ion and pure metal surface.