Observation of the pre-explosion state and of the initial moment of an explosion of a field emission center in a field emission microscope

Never-before-observed emission images corresponding to a transition from intense field emission to explosive electron emission are obtained in a Muller field emission microscope with short (∼2 ns)high-voltage pulses. These images are much brighter than ordinary field emission images. Moreover, the images have a characteristic multi-brightness structure with ring-shaped frames around regions of different brightness. Analysis of the experimental data points to a field emission nature of these images. The appearance of such emission images can be explained by emission from a liquid phase which arises immediately prior to the explosion of a microemitter. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 4, 280–285 (25 February 1998)