Search

Multi-alkali antimonide photocathodes can have high quantum efficiency similar as UV sensitive (Cs2Te) photocathodes, but with the advantages of photoemission sensitivity in the visible region of the light spectrum and a significant reduction in the mean transverse energy of photoelectrons. A batch of three KCs2Sb photocathodes was grown on molybdenum substrates via a sequential deposition method in a new preparation system at INFN LASA. Afterwards, the cathodes were successfully tested in the high gradient RF gun at PITZ. This contribution summarizes the experimental results obtained in both the preparation chamber and the RF gun. Based on those findings, we are now optimizing the recipe of KCs2Sb and NaKSb(Cs) photocathodes for lower field emission and longer lifetime, and the measurements for the latest photocathodes with the improved recipe are also presented.

A new generation of high-gradient normal conducting 1.3 GHz RF gun with 1% duty factor was developed to provide a high-quality electron source for superconducting linac driven free-electron lasers like FLASH and European XFEL. Compared to the Gun4 series, Gun5 aims for a ~50% longer RF pulse length (RF pulse duration of up to 1 ms at 10 Hz repetition rate) combined with high gradients (up to ~60 MV/m at the cathode). In addition to the improved cell geometry and cooling concept, the new cavity is equipped with an RF probe to measure and control the amplitude and phase of the RF field inside the gun. The first characterization of Gun5.1 included measurements of RF amplitude and phase stability (pulse-to-pulse and along 1 ms RF pulse). The dark current was measured at various peak power levels. The results of this characterization will be reported.

The Photo Injector Test Facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ) develops a prototype of an accelerator-based high-power tunable THz source for pump-probe experiments at the European XFEL. The PITZ injector is also the site for the development and preparation of the high-brightness electron source for the main linac of the European XFEL and has the same pulse train structure as the X-ray photon source of the XFEL. For the proof-of-principle experiments on high-power THz generation an LCLS- I undulator (on loan from SLAC) is installed in the tunnel annex downstream of the existing accelerator. The extension of the beam line consists of a bunch compressor and a collimation system in the main PITZ tunnel, as well as a matching section, the undulator and the THz diagnostic setup in the tunnel annex. A Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission (SASE) FEL is used to generate the THz pulses. High radiation power can be achieved by utilizing high charge (up to several nC) electron bunches from the PITZ photo injector. A beam energy of ~17 MeV is used to generate THz radiation with a centre wavelength of 100 μm. The transport of this space charge dominated electron beam and its thorough matching into the planar LCLS-I undulator with a strong vertical focusing is one of the project challenges. The installation of the first THz beamline setup was finished in summer 2022 and com-missioning with electron beam started. A specially developed procedure for a high charge beam matching into the undulator was successfully tested resulting in a first THz pulse generation. The start-up THz diagnostics is based on pyrodetectors. First measurements of the THz generation from 1,2 and 3 nC bunches have been taken, the statistics properties analysis corresponds to the expected SASE performance. The gain curve for the 3 nC case reflects the onset of saturation regime.

Research and development of an accelerator-based THz source prototype for pump-probe experiments at the European XFEL are ongoing at the Photo Injector Test Facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ). A proof-of-principle experiment to generate THz SASE FEL radiation using an LCLS-I undulator driven by an electron bunch from the PITZ accelerator has been prepared. After four years of designs and construction, the first commissioning with an electron beam was started in July 2022. This paper presents and discusses the experience and results of the first commissioning.

Proceedings of the 31st International Linear Accelerator Conference, LINAC2022, Liverpool, UK 31st Linear Accelerator Conference, LINAC22, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 28 Aug 2022 - 2 Sep 2022; JACoW Publishing, Geneva, Switzerland 699-702 (2022). doi:10.18429/JACoW-LINAC2022-THPOJO03, A new generation of normal conducting 1.3GHz RF gun was developed to provide a high-quality electron source for superconducting linac driven free-electron lasers like FLASH and European XFEL. Compared to the Gun4 series, Gun5 aims for a 50% increase of the duration of the RF pulse (up to 1 ms at 10 Hz repetition rate) combined with high gradients (up to ~60 MV/m at the cathode). In addition to the improved impedance, the new cavity is equipped with an RF probe to measure and control the amplitude and phase of the RF field inside the gun. The first prototype of the new RF gun was manufactured at DESY and installed at the Photo Injector Test facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ) in October 2021. In mid-October 2021 the RF conditioning began, aiming for achieving the aforementioned RF parameters. The conditioning procedure involves a slow gradual increase in repetition rate, RF pulse duration and peak power while carefully monitoring vacuum conditions and signals from interlock sensors. The results of RF conditioning will be reported., Published by JACoW Publishing, Geneva, Switzerland

Proceedings of the 11th International Beam Instrumentation Conference, IBIC2022, Kraków, Poland 11th International Beam Instrumentation Conference, IBIC2022, Krakow, Poland, 12 Sep 2022 - 15 Sep 2022; [Geneva, Switzerland] : JACoW Publishing 273-276 (2022). doi:10.18429/JACoW-IBIC2022-TUP20, The Photo Injector Test Facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ) characterizes and optimizes electron sources for use at FLASH and European XFEL. AT PITZ, the transverse phase space is measured using a single slit scan and scintillator screen method. With the trend in photoinjectors towards lower current and emittance, these measurements become increasingly influenced by systematic errors including camera resolution and scintillator response due to smaller spot sizes. This study investigates the effects and corrections of the systematic errors for phase space measurements at PITZ., Published by JACoW Publishing, [Geneva, Switzerland]

Proceedings of the 13th International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2022, Bangkok, Thailand 13th International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC'22, Bangkok, Thailand, 12 Jun 2022 - 17 Jun 2022; JACoW Publishing, Geneva, Switzerland 310-312 (2022). doi:10.18429/JACOW-IPAC2022-MOPOPT029, The longitudinal phase space characteristics of space-charge dominated electron beams are keys to achieving bunch compression for the accelerator-based THz source at the Photo Injector Test facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ). Such a THz source is proposed as a prototype for an accelerator-based THz source for pump-probe experiments at the European XFEL. A start-to-end simulation has suggested the settings of the phase of booster linear accelerator manipulating longitudinal beam characteristics to optimize the performance of the THz FEL. Although beam diagnostics after compression at PITZ are limited, the longitudinal beam characteristics as a function of the booster phase have been measured and compared with the corresponding simulations. The benchmark involves measurements of longitudinal phase space distribution for bunch charges up to 2 nC. The measurement technique assigned uses 50-um slits to achieve higher momentum and time resolution (1.8 keV/c and 0.5 ps, respectively)., Published by JACoW Publishing, Geneva, Switzerland

[Ebook] IBIC 2022, International Beam Instrumentation Conference : 11-15 September 2022, Krakow, Poland : IBIC2022 - proceedings / Organizers: GSI [Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung]; SOLARIS, National Synchrotron Radiation Centre, Jagiellonian University in Krakow , [Geneva, Switzerland] : JACoW Publishing, [2022], International Beam Instrumentation Conference, IBIC 2022, Krakow, Poland, 11 Sep 2022 - 15 Sep 2022; Geneva, Switzerland : JACoW Publishing 277-280 (2022). doi:10.18429/JACoW-IBIC2022-TUP21, A standard technique to measure beam profiles in linear accelerators are screen monitors using scintillating screens. This technique is used e.g. at the European XFEL in order to overcome coherence effects in case of OTR usage [*]. During the XFEL commissioning it was found out that screens based on LYSO:Ce as scintillating material revealed a nonproportional light output [**]. Reason for it is the high particle beam density. As consequence it was decided to exchange LYSO:Ce by GAGG:Ce scintillators because the excitation carriers can rapidly transfer their energy to excited states of gadolinium, and a rapid migration of this energy among the Gd sub-lattice is expected. Driven by the observations at XFEL a series of measurements was started to investigate the properties of various scintillator materials (LYSO:Ce, YAP:Ce, YAG:Ce, LuAG:Ce and GAGG:Ce). The last measurement campaign was carried out at PITZ which allows to operate at higher beam charge and lower electron energy compared to the XFEL. The present work summarizes the results of these measurements., Published by JACoW Publishing, Geneva, Switzerland

Photocathode Physics for Photoinjectors Workshop, California, DESY, USA, 10 Nov 2021 - 12 Nov 2021

Proceedings of the 12th International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2021, Campinas, SP, Brazil 12th International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC'21, Campinas, Brazil, 24 May 2021 - 28 May 2021; 4 pp. (2021). doi:10.18429/JACoW-IPAC2021-WEPAB274, A magnetic bunch compressor has been recently designed for an accelerator-based THz source which is under development at the Photo Injector Test facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ). The THz source is assumed to be a prototype for an accelerator-based THz source for pump-probe experiments at the European XFEL. As an electron bunch is compressed to achieve higher bunch currents for the THz source, we investigate the beam dynamics in the bunch compressor by numerical simulations. A start-to-end simulation optimizer has been developed by combining the use of ASTRA, IMPACT-T, and OCELOT to support the design of the THz source prototype. Coherent synchrotron radiation effects degrade the compression performance for our study cases with bunch charges up to 4 nC and beam energy of 17 MeV at a bending angle of 19 degrees. Simulation and preliminary beam characteristic results will be presented in this paper.

Photocathode Physics for Photoinjectors Workshop, California, DESY, USA, 10 Nov 2021 - 12 Nov 2021

Proceedings of the 12th International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2021, Campinas, SP, Brazil 12th International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC'21, Campinas, Brazil, 24 May 2021 - 28 May 2021; 3244-3247 (2021). doi:10.18429/JACOW-IPAC2021-WEPAB257, The Photo Injector Test facility at DESY in Zeuthen (PITZ) is developing a THz SASE FEL as a prototype high repetition rate accelerator-based source for the THz-pumped, X-ray-probed experiments at the European XFEL. For the generation of THz pulses of mJ-level energy from SASE, an electron beam with a high charge (up to 4 nC) and high peak current (~200 A) will be injected into an LCLS-I undulator, which is currently being installed at the end of the photo-injector. The narrow vacuum chamber (11x5 mm) between the magnetic poles and the strong vertical focusing from the undulator, as well as the lack of beam diagnostics, have made it a challenge to match the space-charge dominated beam into the undulator without beam loss during the following transport. In this paper, boundary conditions of a matched electron beam will be discussed and the simulation and experimental study on our matching strategy will be presented.

The goal of this thesis work is to connect the electronic properties of a crystal (i.e. its band structure) to its photoemission properties and thereby provide a roadmap for the discovery (or development) of photocathode materials with low intrinsic emittance. I have introduced a new photoemission formalism that includes the triangular barrier generated by an applied surface acceleration field Eacc of the electron gun, transverse momentum conservation, and the properties of the bulk band and vacuum states involved in the photoemission process. The direct connection between the electronic band structure of a solid-state photocathode material and it’s experimentally determined spectral photoemission properties (the mean transverse energy (MTE) and quantum efficiency (QE)) is shown for a Rh(110) photocathode at 300K. In accordance with theoretical expectations, a low effective mass (i.e. high dispersion) of the bulk emission bands is shown to be the cause of the significant reduction in the MTE of photoemission from single-crystal Hf(0001) photocathode. Further, modification of the one-step photoemission formalism allowed for an explanation of the observed spectral dependence of the MTE from a Hf(0001)/HfO2 photocathode through the inclusion of defect state emission from the native oxide layer. In addition, a record low MTE value of 6meV was observed for Cu(001) at 35K and an excess photoemission energy E of 0.11eV.

Nitrogen incorporated ultrananocrystalline diamond ((N)UNCD) is promising for photocathode applications due to its high quantum efficiency (QE). The mean transverse energy (MTE) which, along with QE, defines the brightness of the emitted electron beam must be thoroughly characterized and understood for (N)UNCD. Our previous work* further corroborated the important role of graphitic grain boundaries (GB’s). UNCD consists of diamond (sp3-hybrized) grains and graphitic (sp2-hybrized) GB’s: GB’s are behind the high emissivity of (N)UNCD and therefore play a crucial role in defining and controlling the MTE. In this work, the MTE of two different (N)UNCD samples having different ratios of sp3/sp2 were measured versus the primary photon energies. As a reference, MTE of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG, canonical sp2-hybrized graphite) was also measured., Proceedings of the North American Particle Accelerator Conference, NAPAC2019, Lansing, MI, USA

The transverse momentum of electrons is conserved during photoemission from atomically ordered surfaces of single crystal materials. Photocathodes used in all photoinjectors today have disordered surfaces and do not exploit this phenomenon. Recently, using this conservation of transverse momentum, significant reduction in intrinsic emittance was demonstrated from the (111) surface of silver*. Here, we present measurements of transverse momentum distributions of electrons photoemitted from the ordered surfaces of Ag and Cu single crystals at several photon energies. These measurements will help in understanding the photoemission process and show how band-structure and the conservation of transverse momentum can be used to obtain further reduction in intrinsic emittance from photocathodes., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Single crystalline photocathodes with small electron effective mass are supposed to enable ultra-low emittance beams, by taking advantage of the conservation of transverse (crystal) momentum. We present a preliminary study on photoemission from epitaxial films of La-doped BaSnO₃ with (100) orientation. We demonstrate here the possibility of generating and characterizing electron beams by exciting photoelectrons solely from the conduction band. We report quantum efficiency and mean transverse energy meaurements as a function of photon energy from the bare and Cs-activated La-doped BaSnO₃ surface., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

There is a strong motivation to develop and understand novel materials with the potential to be utilized as photocathodes, as these could have desirable photoemission properties for research and industrial applications. Nitrogen-incorporated ultrananocrystalline diamond ((N)UNCD) photocathodes have potential to become a material of choice for photocathode applications*. (N)UNCD has high quantum efficiency when processed in hydrogen plasma*, low surface roughness, and high electron conductivity through the bulk**. The mean transverse energy (MTE) was calculated for (N)UNCD thin films using the double-solenoid scan method. (N)UNCD thin film with thickness of 160nm was deposited on highly-doped silicon substrate. Studies of the MTE of a (N)UNCD sample were done using a tunable laser source with photon energies of 3.56 eV to 5.26 eV. These results are presented., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada