Experimental Investigations of the Cesium Plasma Cell

Abstract

Some aspects of the performance of a cesium plasma cell with tantalum emitter are evaluated in terms of experimental determinations of the effects of variations in such parameters as cesium vapor pressure, emitter temperature, and emitter-collector separation distance. Experiments relating to the effect of collector serrations and to the feasibility of radiation shielding are described. Voltage-current characteristics are presented for several emitter temperatures and for a wide range of cesium vapor pressure.