Diamond-based low-work function thermionic electron emitters are in high demand for applications ranging from electron guns and space thrusters to electrical energy converters. A key requirement of such diamond-based electron sources is hydrogen termination of the surfaces which can significantly reduce the emission barrier. However, at high temperatures (≤600°C), terminated hydrogen begins to ...

Diamond-based thermionic emission devices could provide a means to produce clean and renewable energy through direct heat-to-electrical energy conversion. Hindering progress of the technology are the thermionic output current and threshold temperature of the emitter cathode. In this report, we study the effects on thermionic emission caused by in situ exposure of the diamond cathode to beta rad...

We introduce an application of thermionic emission in a PMT photocathode. Because of the nonlinear dependence of thermionic emission on absorbed laser power, a conventional PMT is found to produce a virtual pinhole effect that rejects unfocused light at least as strongly as a physical pinhole. This virtual pinhole effect is exploited in a scanning transmission confocal microscope equipped with ...

Solar-energy conversion usually takes one of two forms: the 'quantum' approach, which uses the large per-photon energy of solar radiation to excite electrons, as in photovoltaic cells, or the 'thermal' approach, which uses concentrated sunlight as a thermal-energy source to indirectly produce electricity using a heat engine. Here we present a new concept for solar electricity generation, photon...

Thin film thermionic coolers use selective emission of hot electrons over a heterostructure barrier layer from emitter to collector resulting in evaporative cooling. In this paper a detailed theory of electron transport perpendicular to the multilayer superlattice structures is presented. Using Fermi-Dirac statistics, density-of-states for a finite quantum well and the quantum mechanical reflec...

Thermionic electron emission forms the basis of both electron sources for a variety of applications and a direct energy conversion process that is compact and scalable. The present study characterizes thermionic emission from boron-doped nanocrystalline diamond films with hydrogen and nitrophenyl surface termination layers. A hemispherical energy analyzer was used to measure electron energy dis...

A new thermionic cathode has been developed and installed for use on the PEGASUS plane wave transformer injector. The novel design of the LaB6 cathode allows for thermionic emission as well as photoinjector operation. Both test-stand measurements and in situ operational experience are reported.

A low energy ion beam system for space charge compensation (SCC) experiments was developed and evaluated. This system was designed for observation of SCC of a positive ion beam with an electron beam. The system consisted of the ion source chamber and the SCC experiment chamber. The ion source chamber was equipped with the compact microwave ion source for low voltage extraction. Ion current at i...

Using a nanomanipulation system contained within a scanning electron microscope we investigate the thermionic electron emission from multiwall carbon nanotubes. Peak emission currents of 65 nA are measured. The carbon nanotubes being grown at low temperature by the chemical vapor deposition method are defective with poor thermal conductivity. We believe it is crucial for the thermal conductivit...