Observation of the field emission from the melting zone occurring just before explosive electron emission

Emission patterns corresponding to the transition of intense field emission to explosive electron emission, not observed earlier, have been obtained with the use of a Muller projector and HV pulses of duration 2 to 5 ns. The brightness of these patterns is much higher than that of conventional field emission patterns. Moreover, the images obtained have a specific structure of varied brightness, such that regions of different brightness are "framed" in rings. Analysis of experimental data suggests that these patterns are field-emission in nature. The appearance of emission patterns of this type is accounted for by the electron emission from the liquid phase, occurring immediately prior to the explosion of a microemitter.