• DOI:10.5170/CERN-2013-002.161
• Corpus ID: 118465075

Secondary Electron Emission Yield in the Limit of Low Electron Energy

@article{Andronov2013SecondaryEE,
  title={Secondary Electron Emission Yield in the Limit of Low Electron Energy},
  author={Alexandr N. Andronov and A. S. Smirnov and Igor D. Kaganovich and Edward A. Startsev and Yevgeny Raitses and Vladimir I. Demidov},
  journal={Bulletin of the American Physical Society},
  year={2013},
  volume={1206051},
  pages={161-163}
}

• A. Andronov, A. Smirnov, +3 authors V. Demidov
• Published 18 September 2013
• Physics
• Bulletin of the American Physical Society

Secondary electron emission (SEE) from solids plays an important role in many areas of science and technology.1 In recent years, there has been renewed interest in the experimental and theoretical studies of SEE. A recent study proposed that the reflectivity of very low energy electrons from solid surface approaches unity in the limit of zero electron energy2,3,4, If this was indeed the case, this effect would have profound implications on the formation of electron clouds in particle accelerators,2-4 plasma measurements with electrostatic Langmuir probes, and operation of Hall plasma thrusters for spacecraft propulsion5,6. It appears that, the proposed high electron reflectivity at low electron energies contradicts to numerous previous experimental studies of the secondary electron emission7. The goal of this note is to discuss possible causes of these contradictions.