Revising the Nottingham Inversion Instability as a bifurcation between two branches of steady states solutions of thermo-field emission from micro-protrusions.

Unstable and destructive behaviors in the thermo-field electron emission by micro- and nano-metric structures typically lead to vacuum breakdowns, hindering the experimental exploration of the phenomenon. To address this challenge, numerical models are employed. In our previous publication, a detailed investigation of the emitter self-heating revealed the possibility of a discontinuity in the increase of the emission current and temperature with the applied electric.

Unveiling the Nottingham Inversion Instability during the thermo-field emission from refractory metal micro-protrusions.

The electron emission by micro-protrusions has been studied for over a century, but the complete explanation of the unstable behaviors and their origin remains an open issue. These systems often evolve towards vacuum breakdown, which makes experimental studies of instabilities very difficult. Modeling studies are therefore necessary.