Abstract

Field electron emission plays an important role in the vacuum electronic technology. The recent advantage in the experimental technology of field emission inspires us to think about some fundamental physics in field emission. In this talk, I shall present four topics. The first is how to identify the image potential for non-metallic emitter. I propose a scheme to distinguish whether the image potential exists in non-metallic emitter. The second is the theoretical studies on the basic principles of the spin-polarized field emission. I study two basic models of the spin-polarized field emission to find out some hints for the experimental investigation of the spin-polarized field emission. In the third topic, I shall propose a scheme to estimate the quantum tunneling time based on field emission. Finally, I shall talk about some fundamental problems and difficulties in the interplay between experiment and theory in field emission.