In an exemplary embodiment, a transmitting tube has a coaxial design of the electrodes and their lead-ins and includes a cathode formed of a hollow cylinder which is secured at one end to an annular cathode lead, and at the other end is secured to a cathode cap which is supported at a power supply lead extending coaxially within the hollow cylinder. In this cathode, the carrier is not to consist of wire, so that inhomogeneities on the cathode surface are avoided. To this end, the disclosure provides that the hollow cylinder consist of pyrolytic graphite and be coated with a thin metal layer, preferably consisting of tungsten carbide and thorium, or a thorium oxide.

In a controllable high-power electron tube in the form of a tetrode, the anode direct voltage is reduced to less than 10 kV with an anode efficiency of greater than 80%. The tube includes coaxially arranged electrodes including a cylindrical indirectly heated full walled matrix cathode containing BaO, a cylindrical control grid, a cylindrical screen grid and an anode, where the spacing between the control grid and the cathode and the spacing between the control grid and the screen grid is less than 1 mm. Such a tube can be used for achieving AM broadcast transmitters which are distinguished by a compact construction, the overall efficiency remaining largely unchanged.

A vapor discharge lamp comprised of an arc tube containing an ionizable medium, a first electrode electrically connected to a first in lead conductor, and a second electrode electrically connected to a second in lead conductor, said first and said second electrode pairs being positioned to create an arc discharge therebetween, an electron emissive material disposed on at least one of said electrodes, said electron emissive material being Ba.sub.4 Al.sub.2 O.sub.7.