Why Does Nottingham Heating Occur in Field Emission?

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SUMMARY

Nottingham heating occurs in field emission due to the interaction between electrons and holes created when electrons escape from below the Fermi level. When an electron leaves the metal, it creates a hole that is filled by current-carrying electrons, resulting in a net gain in heat energy. Additionally, in photoemission, the excitation of electrons by photons leads to the formation of electron-hole pairs, and when these electrons escape, the conduction electrons replace the holes, contributing to heating. This phenomenon highlights the importance of the Fermi level in understanding energy loss and heating in field emission processes.

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  • Basic principles of Joule heating
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Benindelft
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Hi,

Can anyone explain exactly why in field emission you get Nottingham heating?

I can understand that you get joule/ resistive heating that makes sense. I can understand that you get cooling, the electron leaves the metal there is a loss of energy.

But why does it matter if it is above or below the Fermi level?

I would have thought that as the electron escapes there is still loss of energy.

next up:
what is then the effect of photo emission / photofield emssion ?


Thanks

Ben
 
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OK,

I got the answer to my first bit and am pretty sure about the second - but this is an interesting bit of physics so any further discussion would also be fun.

Question was:
Can anyone explain exactly why in field emission you get Nottingham heating?
As I understand it the answer is:
The electron comes from below the Fermi level, it creates a hole which is destroyed by the current flowing. In metal the current carrying electrons have (on average??) the Fermi energy so the net gain in heat energy.

Now for the photon emission (CW)...

The photon excites the electron creating the electron hole pair. If the electron escapes then the hole is replaced by a conduction electron- this results in heating...

Correct?
 

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