Characteristic features of an ionization system with semiconducting cathode

¹ Physics Department, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Gazi University, 06500 Teknikokullar, Ankara, Turkey
² Physics Department, Middle East Technical University, 06531 Ankara, Turkey

Corresponding author: bala@quark.fef.gazi.edu.tr

Received: 24 March 1997
Revised: 7 October 1997
Accepted: 2 March 1998
Published online: 15 June 1998

Abstract

The characteristic features of a dc discharge generated between parallel plate electrodes and especially the discharge stabilization by the GaAs semiconducting cathode in such a system are studied. The cathode was irradiated on the back-side with IR light in a particular wavelength range that was used to control the photoconductivity of the material. The semiconductor material was found to stabilize the discharge. The current-voltage and radiation-voltage characteristics of the gas discharge cell with a semiconducting cathode were obtained experimentally. An investigation of the effect of the voltage amplitude on the dynamics of transient processes in the plane semiconductor-discharge gap structure was made for explanation of the light intensity and current decay. Expressions are obtained for the photoelectric gain.