A New Method for the Measurement of the Differential Energy Distribution of Exoelectrons by a Retarding Potential Method

A new method for the measurement of the differential energy distribution of exoelectrons by using a retarding potential has been developed in which the retarding voltage changes at the center of each channel of a multichannel analyzer. Within the first half interval of a channel, input pulses are added; within the second half interval, the input pulses are subtracted from the previously accumulated data. A differential energy distribution can be obtained after one scan of the retarding voltage. Using this method, differential energy distributions have been measured for thermally stimulated exoelectrons from a LiF single crystal and a BeO ceramics excited by UV light in an ultra-high vacuum.