Pressure dependence of energetic (⩽160 keV) focused electron beams arising from heated or cooled (LiNbO3) pyroelectric crystals

Abstract

An interesting effect, “gas amplification of electron energy” is reported here; namely when a cylindrical pyroelectric crystal such as (LiNbO3) is contained in a concentric cylindrical chamber and is heated and then allowed to cool in a dilute gas the maximum energy of the resultant focused electron beam more than doubles as the pressure increases from 0.05 to 4 mTorr for seven different gases.