Investigation of intermittent enhancement of ion emission from a tungsten surface using the field-ion microscope.

The blinking effect, or the intermittent enhancement of ion emission, which is observed when a few parts per million neon are added to the imaging gas in a helium-tungsten field-ion microscope, has been investigated. Measurements of the characteristic quantities involved - i.e., blinking rate, voltage limits, etc. - and their variation with temperature, field, and gas pressure, are described.