Field-induced electron emission from broad-area YBaCuO high-T c electrodes

A transparent anode facility has been used to compare the field-induced electron emission characteristics of planar YBaCuO high-T _c electrodes at room temperature and in the superconducting state. It was found that virgin electrodes under ambient conditions exhibit an initial current switch-on event at typical field levels of 30 MV m^–1, with the emission coming from a single point site: a large hysteresis effect was also observed when the field was cycled. In contrast, at low temperatures, no switch-on events were observed, and the hysteresis effect was significantly smaller. Also, if an emission current in the nanoamp range was recorded under constant-field conditions as the temperature was lowered through T _c, there was an abrupt (i.e. step-like) fall in both the emission current and its associated noise at the superconducting transition.