Space Charge Effects on Thermionic Emission: the Knee of the Transition from TL to FSCL Operation

We study the space charge effects on thermionic emission via a self-consistent approach. The Richardson-Dushman equation, corrected for the Schottky effect and the Poisson's equation including relativistic effects are solved iteratively. The knee of the transition curve from TL to FSCL operation is obtained self-consistently.