Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences

Consider a metallic field emitter shaped like a thin needle, at the tip of which a large electric field is applied. Electrons spring out of the metal under the influence of the field. The celebrated and widely used Fowler-Nordheim equation predicts a value for the current outside the metal. In this talk, I will show that the Fowler-Nordheim equation emerges as the long-time asymptotic solution of a Schrodinger equation with a realistic initial condition, thereby justifying the use of the Fowler Nordheim equation in real setups. I will also discuss the rate of convergence to the Fowler-Nordheim regime.