Femtosecond thermionic emission from metals in the space-charge-limited regime

Journal Article · Sun Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1993 · Journal of the Optical Society of America, Part B: Optical Physics; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.10.001424· OSTI ID:6076473

Riffe, D M; Wang, X Y; Downer, M C; Fisher, D L; Tajima, T; Erskine, J L ^[1]; More, R M ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712 (United States)
2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)

We study femtosecond-laser-pulse-induced electron emission from W(100), Al(110), and Ag(111) in the subdamage regime (1--44 mJ/cm[sup 2] fluence) by simultaneously measuring the incident-light reflectivity, total electron yield, and electron-energy distribution curves of the emitted electrons. The total-yield results are compared with a space-charge-limited extension of the Richardson--Dushman equation for short-time-scale thermionic emission and with particle-in-a-Cell computer simulations of fs-pulsed-induced thermionic emission. Quantitative agreement between the experimental results and two calculated temperature-dependent yields is obtained and shows that the yield varies linearly with temperature beginning at a threshold electron temperature of [similar to]0.25 eV. The particle-in-a-cell simulations also reproduce the experimental electron-energy distribution curves. Taken together, the experimental results, the theoretical calculations, and the results of the simulations indicate that thermionic emission from nonequilibrium electron heating provides the dominant source of the emitted electrons. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that a quantitative theory of space-charge-limited femtosecond-pulse-induced electron emission is possible.

• OSTI ID: 6076473
• Journal Information: Journal of the Optical Society of America, Part B: Optical Physics; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of the Optical Society of America, Part B: Optical Physics; (United States) Vol. 10:8; ISSN JOBPDE; ISSN 0740-3224
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

661300* -- Other Aspects of Physical Science-- (1992-)
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ALUMINIUM
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
ELEMENTS
EMISSION
ENERGY DENSITY
ENERGY SPECTRA
IRRADIATION
LASER RADIATION
METALS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
PULSED IRRADIATION
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIATIONS
REFLECTIVITY
SILVER
SPECTRA
SURFACE PROPERTIES
THERMIONIC EMISSION
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
TUNGSTEN
VISIBLE RADIATION