Liquid metal field emitters in problem of space vehicles charging limitation

Author

Baskin, Lev ; Shirochin, Leonid ; Kovalev, Andrey ; Fursey, Georgiy

Author_Institution

Univ. of Telecommun., St. Petersburg, Russia

Volume

2

fYear

1996

fDate

21-26 Jul 1996

Firstpage

692

Abstract

It is shown that the liquid-metal sources allow one to obtain a stable direct current in a static field both in ion and electron regimes. It is possible to sustain each of the regimes in the same low-voltage range, under conditions of a relatively high residual gas pressure. Such emitters seem to be useful in the problem of space vehicle charging limitation. Being situated on the surfaces that have to be protected from the excess charge of an arbitrary polarity, the devices can automatically restrict the electric field below the level of 2.5÷4.0 kV/cm

Keywords

aerospace testing; electric breakdown; liquid metal ion sources; liquid metals; spacecraft charging; vacuum breakdown; vacuum insulation; electric field restriction; electron regime; ion regime; liquid metal field emitters; residual gas pressure; space vehicles charging limitation; Ion beams; Ion emission; Needles; Optical films; Shape; Space vehicles; Surface charging; Surface discharges; Threshold voltage; Vacuum breakdown;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Discharges and Electrical Insulation in Vacuum, 1996. Proceedings. ISDEIV., XVIIth International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Berkeley, CA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-2906-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/DEIV.1996.545453

Filename

545453