An experimental investigation was made of the thermionic emission properties of a rhenium tape coated with lanthanum hexaboride, and its usefulness as a low temperature emitter for demountable vacuum ionization gauges and mass spectrometers was considered. Methods of preparation and processing were described and measurements of the Richardson emission constants were given. The poisoning of the emission by the gases generally found in vacuum systems was studied and the extent to which the activity could subsequently be restored was described. Measurements were also been made of the rate of evaporation of active material from the cathode surface.

Thermionic Emission Properties of a Lanthanum Hexaboride/Rhenium Cathode. Buckingham, J.D.: British Journal of Applied Physics, 1965, 16[12], 1821-32