Gain-degradation effects in continuous dynode electron multipliers

The development and commercial availability of continuous dynode electron multipliers has provided a useful capability for substantial current amplification (gains of 10⁶to 10⁸) in a small, light, simple, reliable low-power device that can be subjected to atmospheric exposure. For space probe particle sampling and other applications, long-term gain stability (or predictable gain variations for which compensation can be provided) is highly desirable.