Physical Electronics

Handbook of Vacuum Physics, Volume 2, Physical Electronics, discusses the fundamentals of electric discharges in gases. Electrical discharges in gases is used generically to denote the passage of electricity through a gas and implicitly embraces the wide variety of physical phenomena which accompany such a discharge of electricity. The discharge currents may be as small as 10-16A in certain ionization growth studies, or be as large as megamperes in thermonuclear and plasma physics studies. Key topics discussed include collision phenomena in gases; surface phenomena and transport of charged particles; continuity equation for discharges; electrical discharges in crossed electric and magnetic fields; and vacuum breakdown.