ADVANCES IN ELECTRONICS AND ELECTRON PHYSICS VOLUME XI11 This Page Intentionally Left Blank Advances in Electronics and Electron Physics EDITED BY L. MARTON National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C. Assistant Editor CLAIRE MARTON EDITORIAL BOARD T. E. Allibone W. B. Nottingham H. B. G. Casimir E. R. Piore L. T. DeVore M. Ponte W. G. Dow A. Rose A. 0. C. Nier L. P. Smith VOLUME XI11 ACADEMIC PRESS A Subsldlery of Heccourt Brace Jovenovlch. Publlshers N o w York London Toronto Sydney Sen Frencieco COPYRIQHTO 1960, BY ACADEMIC PRESS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED NO PART OF THIS BOOK MAY BE REPRODUCED I N ANY FORM, BY PHOTOSTAT, MICROFILM, OR ANY OTHER MEANS, WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE PUBLISHERS. ACADEMIC PRESS, INC. 1 1 1 Fifth Avenue. New York. New York 10003 United Kingdom Edition published by ACADEMIC PRESS, INC. (LONDON) LTD. 24/28 Oval Road, London N W l LibrarV oj Congress Cntalog Card Number 4!3-?’60/t PRINTED I N THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 808182 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME XI11 RAYMOND CASTAING, Ddpartement de Physique Gdn6rale) Faculte' des Sciences, Universite' de Paris, Orsay, France JOHN B. HASTED,Physics Department, University College, London, England P. A. LINDSAY, Research Laboratories of The General Electric Company Ltd., Wembley, England ERWINW. MULLER,Field Emission Laboratory, T h e Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania PAULK. WEIMER,R C A Laboratories, Princeton, N e w Jersey V This Page Intentionally Left Blank PREFACE An editor’s constant worry is the material which goes into his publication. He has to see to i t that the material is useful and good. By useful, I mean that it presents material in which most of the readers are interested; and, in presenting such material, the significant is winnowed away from the insignificant. By good, I mean that the material is presented by a person who can write well and who is able to satisfy the requirements of a useful reading. I n selecting both the materials and the authors, your editor is guided by the advice of the editorial board and of a number of other people, including the book reviewers in scientific magazines. All this gives a very good guideline, but I would appreciate it if the guidance would be on even a broader basis. I would like to invite the individual reader to send me comments on areas which we have neglected, on topics which we have not presented well, making suggestions for improvement and making suggestions about new authors whom we could draw in. T o provide the critical reader with a guideline as to the fields which we intend to cover in the next three or four volumes, I am giving here a brief summary of such subjects. They are as follows: Photoconductive Phenomena The Electron as a Chemical Entity Generation of Microwaves by Cerenkov Radiation Hydrogen Thyratrons Quadrupole Lenses High Power Microwave Tubes The Distribution of Ionization in the Upper Atmosphere hlillimicrosecond Techniques Masers Millimeter Waves