Effect of Debye shielding on electric field emission from spherical and cylindrical surfaces

Abstract

In this paper the authors have derived almost exact expressions for the tunneling probability of an electron through the surface potential barrier on account of a negative charge on spherical and cylindrical metallic dust particles; Debye shielding has been taken into account. Expressions for the electric current density corresponding to emitted electrons from the charged spherical and cylindrical surfaces have been derived, and corresponding numerical computations have been made for typical set of parameters. Based on these results, a parametric analysis of the phenomenon has been presented. The investigation is of relevance to dusty plasmas in space and laboratory. The results are also applicable to a number of applications, based on electric field emission from a thin metallic wire surrounded by a coaxial cylindrical surface at a high electric potential with respect to the wire.