Abstract
FOR many years the literature of applied physics has lacked a really up-to-date and complete account of the phenomena occurring inside valves. In consequence, students are taught very little about them, a sad contrast with the attention paid to circuit applications. To fill this void, Prof. K. R. Spangenberg has written the present bulky volume, addressed mainly to senior and graduate students, but with the needs of research workers kept in mind. The book begins with the basic physics of the subject : atomic theory, electron emission, electrostatics and the dynamics of charged particles. Potential theory is next discussed, with detailed application to triode and multigrid valves. After a brief consideration of shot effect and resistance noise, a section of 142 pages is devoted to electron optics and the cathode ray tube. Transit-time effects come next, and lead to the elementary theory of velocity modulation valves and cavity magnetrons. Then there are chapters on photo-electric devices and various special tubes, while the final chapter of sixty pages gives a résumé of high-vacuum practice, based on material supplied by C. V. Litton. Some mathematical topics, units, skin effect and Langmuir‘s diode tables are discussed in appendixes.
Vacuum Tubes
By Prof. Karl R. Spangenberg. (McGraw-Hill Electrical and Electronic Engineering Series.) Pp. xvii + 860. (New York and London: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1948.) 45s.
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BECK, A. Vacuum Tubes. Nature 162, 678 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162678a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162678a0