BIBLIOGRAPHY

V. F. Vlasov, Vacuum Electron Devices. Svyazizdat, 1943, p. 419.

There is no need to point out here what enormous importance the study of vacuum electron devices—or, more broadly, electronics—currently has in electrical-engineering higher educational institutions and universities. Meanwhile, with the textbooks on this subject available to us at the present time, matters are very poor, and here, naturally, serious measures are needed to remedy this situation.

The book under review is at present perhaps the only Soviet textbook on vacuum electron devices, which justifies even this somewhat belated review. The contents of the book are as follows: Introduction (pp. 5–18). I. Basic information about free electrons (pp. 19–58). II. Cathodes of electron tubes (pp. 59–94). III. The two-electrode tube (pp. 95–142). IV. The three-electrode tube (pp. 143–191). V. Current distribution in the triode (pp. 192–217). VI. Amplifying three-electrode tubes (pp. 218–252). VII. Amplifying tubes with two grids (pp. 253–276). VIII. Pentodes and multigrid tubes (pp. 277–303). IX. Special types of receiving-amplifying tubes (pp. 304–327). X. Oscillator tubes (pp. 328–351). XI. Gas-discharge devices (pp. 352–389). XII. Photoelectric devices and cathode-ray tubes (pp. 390–413). Index of the main literature (p. 415). The book has been approved by the Higher Qualification Commission for Higher Educational Institutions as a textbook for communications institutes.

On first acquaintance, this book as a whole leaves the most pleasant impression. As is clear from its contents, the principal place in it is given to the basic physical processes and characteristics of various modern vacuum electron tubes. All these questions are treated with thorough completeness for a textbook and with a serious, interesting, and modern style of presentation. In this book not only the usual questions of the physics of electron tubes are considered, but also numerous subtleties of this problem, such as those connected, for example, with multi-electrode tubes. One is very pleased to find in it—I emphasize this—a textbook presentation of such interesting questions as, for example, the question of the electric field in tubes and of the construction of electron trajectories in it, then the subtle question of the distribution of electron flows in the complex system of multi-electrode tubes, of the double control of anode current, and so on. The author has undoubtedly succeeded in this textbook, and therefore one would like to wish him further republication and the widest possible dissemination.

I should like to express several wishes, the implementation of which in subsequent editions of this book would undoubtedly make it still better, namely:

1. To introduce into the book a certain number of calculation problems, the solution of which would help the better mastery of the material.
2. To expand the bibliographic index so as to facilitate the possibility of further in-depth study of individual questions from the original literature.

1. Eliminate certain minor roughnesses and, in particular, “modernize” the question of effective cathodes and strengthen the elements of electron optics.

2. If this proves possible, somewhat expand the exposition of the design features and technological properties of tubes and their parts, etc.

The question of greatly expanding the book in the part concerning all electrovacuum devices other than electron tubes deserves special attention; in the book only 74 pages of text are devoted to them. A wide variety of electronic devices for television, long-distance vision, and signaling, automation, etc., with a clearly visible tendency toward ever greater expansion of the range of their applications, have already become firmly established in modern electrical communications engineering. Meanwhile, in the present little book these devices have clearly been unlucky: for there are 10 pages for the photoelectric effect and photoelements, not a single page for cathode-television devices, etc.—this, of course, is very modest. I therefore think that in subsequent editions the material touched upon in Chapters XI and especially XII should be presented more fully and in keeping with its contemporary importance and, I hope, with the same pedagogical mastery that is characteristic of this entire book as a whole. There is no reason to fear the considerable increase in the size of the book connected with all this, since it will clearly express the direction of technical progress in this field and its ever-growing significance; and we, comparing the old edition of 1933 with the present one of 1943, will in the next edition of the book merely once again experience the pleasant feeling of observing the very rapid progress in this field, as well as the significance that research in physical electronics has had for the development of this branch of technology.

In conclusion, one should once more express the wish for the fastest possible reissue of the reviewed book in a larger print run, taking into account all the considerations expressed above. In addition, the publication of another textbook on electronics is very desirable, in which, besides the questions touched upon in the present book, other very important questions could also be covered, such as, for example, electron and ion optics, methods of obtaining, accelerating, and analyzing electron and ion beams, elementary processes of gas discharge, etc.

N. D. Morgulis