The effect of the image force on the emission and reflexion of electrons by metals

Abstract

In a recent paper (cited henceforth as I) I have shown that the phenomena concerning the emission or reflexion of electrons by metals can be treated by calculating the emission or reflexion coefficient for the electrons at the surface of the metal and integrating over all incident electrons according to the electron theory of conductivity of Sommerfeld. In a further paper (cited henceforth as II), R. H. Fowler and the present author have treated the cold emission in intense electric fields on the same principle. The surface of the metal is characterised thereby as a region with a very sudden variation of the potential, that, according to the wave mechanics causes a reflexion. The emission coefficient is, of course, the ratio of the number of electrons going through to the number of incident electrons, and the relation R + D = 1 (1) (R = reflexion coefficient, D = emission coefficent) is therefore always valid.