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Nitrogen-incorporated ultrananocrystalline diamond [(N)UNCD] pyramid tip cathode has been considered as a next-generation high peak current electron source for dielectric laser accelerators as well as other high peak current particle accelerator applications. In this work, we study non-linear photoemission from an (N)UNCD pyramid tip cathode using an ultrafast laser with the pulse length of 150 fs with the central wavelength of 800 nm in the peak intensity range of 10 9 – 10 10 W / cm 2. We demonstrated that as the incident laser intensity increases, the current emitted from the nano-tip first increases as a power function with an exponent of about 5 and then starts to roll over to an exponent of 3. This roll over is attributed to the Coulomb interaction between electrons emitted from the tip also known as the space charge. We also measured the photoemission electron energy spectra that show electrons with energies as high as ∼ 10 eV. Based on the shape of the electron energy spectra, we conclude that the high-energy electrons are thermally emitted electrons due to ultrafast laser heating at the tip of the (N)UNCD pyramid tip cathode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantum efficiency and mean transverse energy of electrons emitted from a cathode determine the quality of beams generated from photoinjectors. The nitrogen-incorporated ultrananocrystalline diamond, (N)UNCD, is a new class of robust semiconductor photocathodes, which has been considered in photoinjectors for high peak current extraction. In this work, we measure the spectral response in quantum efficiency, photoemission energy spectra, and mean transverse energy of the (N)UNCD photocathode using a photoemission electron microscope. The observed quantum efficiency was comparable to that of copper photocathodes. Photoemission spectra showed the evidence of scattering of electrons before emission. This relaxation of electrons due to scattering is also observed in the spectral response of the mean transverse energy. The mean transverse energy is limited to ∼ 70 meV at the threshold. We attribute this to the physical and chemical roughness of the (N)UNCD photocathode and, hence, smoother films will be required to further reduce the mean transverse energy obtained from the (N)UNCD photocathode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]