Abstract

A simulation of the vacuum tube diode with plane cathode and anode is presented. A study of the (2D classical) thermionic emission taking place at the cathode is carried out in terms of a gas. The characteristic curve of the diode (current vs. applied voltage) is investigated using the simulation in the space charge regime. This simulation is based on the interaction of the emitted electrons with the applied electric field and with the field of the other emitted electrons. In this way, two problems usually studied in terms of statistical physics and advanced electromagnetic partial differential equations are studied in terms of some few well known basic laws. This approach is at the core of the CoLoS way of teaching.