It is well known that thermionic emission into vacuum is accompanied by a Peltier cooling of the vacuum metal interface. The interface may be thought of as a junction between two conductors: the metal, and an electron gas whose distribution is determined primarily by space charge. The addition of a small amount of easily ionized gas to the vacuum region does not affect the Peltier cooling of the interface, but is does squeeze the space charge region to about one micron and replaces most of the electron gas by a low-resistance plasma. Thus, a plasma-filled diode may be considered as …
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Atomic Energy Commission Report AECU-3998
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It is well known that thermionic emission into vacuum is accompanied by a Peltier cooling of the vacuum metal interface. The interface may be thought of as a junction between two conductors: the metal, and an electron gas whose distribution is determined primarily by space charge. The addition of a small amount of easily ionized gas to the vacuum region does not affect the Peltier cooling of the interface, but is does squeeze the space charge region to about one micron and replaces most of the electron gas by a low-resistance plasma. Thus, a plasma-filled diode may be considered as a thermocouple, with the plasma forming one branch, and this thermocouple may be analyzed in terms of the thermoelectric powers of the plasma and metal branches.
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Lewis, H. W. & Reitz, John R.Thermoelectric Properties of the Plasma Diode,
report,
July 25, 1958;
Los Alamos, New Mexico.
(https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1240437/:
accessed May 12, 2025),
University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu;
crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.