A heated cathode emits electrons into low-pressure atomic vapor, and a variable accelerating voltage gives them kinetic energy. A grid and small retarding region precede the collectinganode. Below the first excitation threshold most collisions are elastic; above it, electrons can transfer a definite excitation energy to atoms and may then fail to overcome the collector's retarding field. Collector current develops repeated minima as accelerating voltage increases, separated by roughly the same excitation voltage, approximately 4.9V for mercury. Contact potentials and energy spreads shift or smear the minima without removing their characteristic spacing. A smooth loss mechanism would not produce these repeated fixed-energy thresholds.[ref]
