The Influence of Inert Gases on the Characteristics of Thermionic Converters

摘要

The effect of argon, krypton and xenon on the characteristics of a cesium thermionic converter is examined. The converter and gas injection system is designed to allow continuous control over the inert gas pressure during the course of the experiment. Special precautions are taken to minimize oxygen contamination in the gas injection system. The results show a consistent decrease in electron current with increasing gas pressure over the pressure range of 0 to 200 torr. The magnitude of the observed electron attenuation is similar for all the gases, although argon shows evidence of a different high and low pressure mechanism. An analysis of the results based on simple scattering effects predicts widely differing magnitudes of current attenuation by the three gases and does not predict the argon behavior. The phenomena evidently involve many compensating parameters which could not be analyzed. (Author)