All Physics Faculty Publications

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Proceedings of the 6th Spacecraft Charging Technology Conference

Publication Date

9-2000

First Page

275

Last Page

280

Abstract

Secondary electron (SE) emission from spacecraft surfaces as a result of energetic electron bombardment is a key process in the electrical charging of spacecraft. It has been suggested that incorporating more complete knowledge of the energy- and angular-distributions of secondary electrons is necessary to fully model how SE emission and spacecraft charging are affected by re-adsorption of low energy electrons in the presence of charge-induced electrostatic fields and ambient magnetic fields in the spacecraft environment. We present data for such energy- and angular-distributions from sputtered, polycrystalline gold surfaces. The data are compared to empirical SE emission models and found to agree well. We also discuss at what level inclusion of such energy- and angular-distributions will affect models of spacecraft charging for both positive and negative surface charging.

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