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The initial commissioning of the Superconducting RF (SRF) photoinjector is done with a Cu photocathode due to its robustness with regard to interactions with the SRF cavity of the injector. Here we present the preparation and characterization of a Cu photocathode plug and the diagnostics to insert the photocathode in the back wall of the SRF cavity. A polycrystalline bulk Cu plug was polished, particle free cleaned and characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. During the transfer of the photocathode insert into the gun module the whole process was controlled by several diagnostic tools monitoring the insert position as well as RF, vacuum and cryogenic signals. We discuss the challenges of the photocathode transfer into an SRF cavity and how they can be tackled., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

GaAs photocathode lifetime is limited, and to ensure re- liable operation for high power-applications it is necessary to maximize its charge lifetime. By using a cryogenic sub- volume it is expected to improve the local vacuum condi- tions due to cryogenic adsorption of reactive residual gas molecules. Yielding an enhanced lifetime of the negative- electron-affinity surface of the cathode. Furthermore the cooling of the cathode itself ishould allow higher laser power deposition in the material. Introducing an electrostatic bend is expected to reduces the ion-backbombardment on the cath- ode surface. A dedicated set-up is being developed at the Photo-CATCH test facility in Darmstadt, Germany to measure the charac- teristics of such a cryogenic source. This contribution updates the report given at PSTP 2017., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The superconducting RF photoinjector (SRF Gun II) has successfully served for the ELBE user facility at HZDR. Nevertheless, the quality of photocathodes is one of the most critical issues in improving the stability and reliability for its application. Magnesium has a comparably low work function (3.6 eV) and shows a quantum efficiency up to 0.3% after laser cleaning. However, the present cleaning process with a high intensity laser beam is time consuming and produces unwanted surface roughness, which leads to a higher thermal emittance. Thermal treatment and Excimer laser cleaning for Mg cathodes are investigated as alternative methods. In this work, the new cleaning procedures are tested and optimized, and the quantum efficiency of Mg samples with different microstructure, composition and suppliers are compared., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The majority of photocathode materials in use in accelerator applications have been discovered empirically through trial and error with little guidance from material science calculations. Alternatively, one can envision a process which is heavily guided by computational search using latest advances in density functional theory (DFT). In this work, the MaterialsProject database is searched for potential single crystal photocathodes that would be suitable for ultralow emittance beam production. The materials in the database are initially screened on the basis of experimental practicality. Following this, the expected emittance is calculated from the DFT computed band structures for the pre-screened materials using the conservation of energy and transverse momentum during photoemission. Based on such computational screening, we provide a list of potential low emittance photocathode materials which can be investigated experimentally as high brightness electron sources., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

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

The ionosphere plays a prominent role in the performance of critical civilian and military communication systems. The key instrument in Ionospheric Modification (IM) research is a powerful, ground-based, High Frequency (HF) source of electromagnetic waves known as a heater. With a mobile heater, investigators would be able to conduct IM research at different latitudes without building a costly permanent installation. A new highly efficient Megawatt class of Radio Frequency sources is required to reduce the overall power demands on a fully deployable system. Such a source has been described previously*. Results of a scaled experiment, using the electron beam produced by a gridded gun to drive an external lumped element circuit for high efficiency radio frequency generation is presented. The IOT gun produces an electron beam bunched at the driving frequency that is then collected by an external circuit for impedance matching to the load. Results showed that effects such as the internal resistance of the inductor and deflection of beam electrons by the induced RF voltages on the beam collector are important considerations to be included in the design of a practical device., 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

Operating photocathodes near the photoemission threshold holds the promise of yielding small intrinsic emittance, at the cost of significantly reduced quantum efficiency. In modern femtosecond photoemission electron sources, this requires a very high intensity (10s of GW/cm²) to extract a useful quantity of electrons. At this intensity, the electron occupation function is far from equilibrium and evolves rapidly on sub-ps timescales. Thus, ultrafast laser heating and multiphoton photoemission effects may play a significant role in emission, thereby increasing the minimum achievable emittance. In this work, we use a Boltzmann equation approach to calculate the non-equilibrium occupation function evolution in time for a copper photocathode, yielding a prediction of quantum efficiency and mean transverse energy as a function of input intensity., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The Argonne Cathode Test-stand (ACT) is a unique testbed to develop cathodes and to conduct fundamental surface study under ultra-high rf field (up to 700 MV/m with pin-shaped cathodes). The test-stand consists of an L-band 1.3 GHz single-cell photocathode rf gun and a field emission (FE) imaging system to locate emitters with a resolution of ∼20 𝜇m. In the recent upgrade, UV laser has been introduced to improve the imaging system and to significantly expand the ACT towards photoemission and laser-assisted field emission research. In addition, a load-lock system has been added to the beam line to expedite the cathode switching period. The paper will present details of the upgrade as well as experiments planned in the near future., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Diamond Field-Emitter Array (DFEA) cathodes are arrays of micron-scale diamond pyramids with nanometer-scale tips. DFEAs can produce high emission currents with small emittance and energy spread. At LANL, we have an ongoing program to test DFEA cathodes for the purpose of using them to generate high-current, low-emittance electron beams for dielectric laser accelerators. We have recently upgraded our cathode test chamber to use a mesh anode in place of a solid luminescent anode. In addition to allowing for downstream beam transport, this arrangement may eliminate earlier problems with reduced cathode performance due to ion back-bombardment. We are measuring divergence of the electron beam past the mesh in an effort to characterize the inherent beam divergence off the diamond tip and divergence contribution from the mesh. We will compare these observations with theoretical and modeled values., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) is a technique to study the structural dynamics of matter, combining diffraction of electrons with sub-angstrom De-Broglie wavelength with femtosecond time resolution. The method is complementary to X-ray scattering at free-electron lasers. UED pump-probe experiments require ultrashort laser pulses to pump a sample, electron bunches with small emittance and ultrashort length to analyze the state of the sample by diffraction, as well as excellent control of the delay between them. While most UED systems are based on electrostatic electron sources in the keV regime, electrons accelerated to a few MeV in a radiofrequency photocathode gun offer significant advantages regarding emittance and bunch length due to the reduction of space charge effects. Furthermore, the longer mean free path of MeV electrons allows for thicker samples and hence a broader range of possible materials. In this paper, a first conceptual design and simulation results for a university-based UED facility with ultrashort and low-emittance MeV electron bunches are presented., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Simulations of a magnetized injector for the bunched-beam electron cooler ring, as part of the Jefferson Lab Electron Ion Collider (JLEIC) are presented. A challenge of such an injector is in generating a magnetized, 3.2nC electron bunch at low energy and preserving the angular momentum so it can subsequently be merged into the cooler ring and transported to the cooling solenoid without degradation. The design of the proposed injector and the effect it has on the beam are discussed in detail., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Most electron beam sources generate beams that propagate away from the source in a single primary direction, with the overall envelope being either pencil-like or sheet-like. We present the design of a radial RF electron gun, intended to produce a radially propagating electron beam (either towards or away from an axis) with the overall envelope being that of an expanding or contracting annulus. Such a source has several potential advantages for materials processing, and may also be useful as the basis for unique optical elements for hadron machines., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

For the BERLinPro energy recovery LINAC, HZB is developing a superconducting 1.4-cell electron gun, which, in its final version, is planned to be capable of CW 1.3 GHz operation with 77 pC/bunch. For this purpose a series of three superconducting cavities, denoted as Gun 1.0, Gun 1.1 (both designed for 6 mA) and Gun 2.0 (100 mA) is foreseen. Here the status of the Gun 1.1 cavity is described, including results of the recent vertical testing. Lessons learned from the production and preparation process are summarized, also in order to identify issues critical for the production of Gun 2.0., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Based on the long-term experience on R&D and production of cesium telluride photocathodes for the high brightness photo-injectors and the past experience on green photocathodes developed in ‘90s , we have started a new R&D activity aiming to reach a reproducible and robust recipe for green photocathodes usable in RF gun. In this paper we present and discuss the first results so far obtained on K2CsSb photoemissive films deposited on polished Mo plugs and the plan for future studies., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Bunched-beam electron cooling is a key feature of all proposed designs of the future electron-ion collider, and a requirement for achieving the highest promised collision luminosity. At the Jefferson Lab Electron Ion Collider (JLEIC), fast cooling of ion beams will be accomplished via so-called 'magnetized cooling' implemented using a recirculator ring that employs an energy recovery linac. In this contribution, we describe the production of magnetized electron beam using a compact 300 kV DC high voltage photogun with an inverted insulator geometry, and using alkali-antimonide photocathodes. Beam magnetization was assessed using a modest diagnostic beamline that includes YAG view screens used to measure the rotation of the electron beamlet passing through a narrow upstream aperture. Magnetization results are presented for different gun bias voltages and for different laser spot sizes at the photocathode, using 532 nm lasers with DC and RF time structure. Photocathode lifetime was measured at currents up to 4.5 mA, with and without beam magnetization., 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

The Hefei Advanced Light Source (HALS) was proposed as a future soft X-ray diffraction-limited storage ring with a Free Electron Laser (FEL) at National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (NSRL). We present a design for a high brightness electron source as an injector of a 2.4 GeV linac-based diffraction limited storage ring and a free electron laser. The electron beams with low emittance and high peak current will be generated from a photoinjector and designed to fulfill the requirement of the HALS. To compress the bunch length and enhance the pulse current, velocity bunching scenario by a deceleration injection phase is designed. Owing to a linear compression, the electron beam is expected to be extremely short with a further magnetic compression., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Energetic primary electrons (~ keV) impinging on the diamond film with its both surface under bias field in ~ MV/m, will excite secondary electron (SE) response including SE generation & transport. Although there have been 3D Monte Carlo (MC) simulation to study the two processes, this paper will introduce another method. Based on optical dielectric model, 3D MC simulation was implemented to study the generation process, and SE generation function was obtained by fitting the calculations. Using this function, the diffusion-drift equation of charge carriers (electron and hole) can be solved in 1D for the transport process, and the variation of SE depth distribution with time can be obtained., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The minimum achievable emittance in an electron accelerator depends strongly on the intrinsic emittance of the photocathode electron source. This is measureable as the mean longitudinal and transverse energy spreads in the photoemitted electrons. ASTeC's Transverse Energy Spread Spectrometer (TESS)* experimental facility can be used with III-V semiconductor, multi-alkali and metal photocathodes to measure transverse and longitudinal energy distributions. Our R&D facilities also include in-vacuum quantum efficiency measurement, XPS, STM, plus ex-vacuum optical and STM microscopy for surface metrology. Intrinsic emittance is strongly affected by the photocathode surface roughness**, and the development of techniques to manufacture the smoothest photocathode is a priority for the electron source community. We present energy distribution measurements for electrons emitted from copper photocathodes with both defined single-crystal (100) and polycrystalline surfaces with measured levels of surface roughness., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The LCLS-II injector is a high brightness, high-repetition rate RF injector that consists of a 186 MHz VHF photo-electron gun, a focusing solenoid, a buncher cavity, another focusing solenoid, and a superconducting accelerating cryomodule to boost the electron beam energy to about final 100MeV. The solenoids provide transverse focusing and emittance compensation for the electron beam. However, in reality, the solenoid is not perfect due to manufacturing errors. Especially, the sextupole error in the solenoid field, which can cause significant beam emittance growth. In this paper, we report on the beam dynamics study of the effects of sextupole errors in the current LCLS-II injector., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

NEA (negative electron affinity)-GaAs cathode is able to generate highly spin polarized electron beam more than 90%. The NEA activation is performed usually with Cs and O2 or NF3, but the exact structure of the NEA surface is not known. In this paper, we performed the NEA activation on a cleaned GaAs surface with CO2, CO, N2, and O2 gases and compared the results to improve our understanding on the NEA surface. We found that CO2 activated the cathode, but N2 and CO did not. By analyzing CO2 activation, we found that atomic oxygen activates the NEA surface and CO degrades the NEA surface simultaneously. We found that the NEA activation ability of atomic oxygen is almost a half of that of O2 molecule.*, Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The second version of the superconducting RF pho-toinjector (SRF Gun II) was successfully commissioned at the ELBE radiation source in 2014. The gun features an improved 3.5-cell niobium cavity combined with a super-conducting solenoid integrated in the cryostat. With a Mg photocathode the SRF Gun II is able to generate bunches with up to 200 pC and with sub-ps length in CW mode with 100 kHz pulse frequency for the THz radiation fa-cility at ELBE. In the ELBE linac, the beam is accelerat-ed, gets a proper correlated energy spread, and is com-pressed in a magnetic chicane. Sub-ps pulses are obtained producing coherent diffraction radiation and superradiant undulator radiation., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

We present simulations of shaped electron beam production from diamond field emitter array (DFEA) cathodes. DFEAs are arrays of diamond pyramids with bases of the order of 10 microns that produce high current densities. These arrays can be fabricated in arbitrary shapes such as a triangle or a double triangle, so that they produce an inherently shaped beam. These transversely shaped beams can be put through an emittance exchanger to produce a longitudinally shaped electron beam distribution for use with high-transformer ratio wakefield accelerators. Simulations are conducted with MICHELLE. We design cathodes and focusing systems that preserve the beam's shape while transporting it to the emittance exchanger., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The electron source in the TRIUMF ARIEL project is a gridded dispenser cathode. The cathode is biased at -300kV, and the grid requires a RF control signal of up to 150V at 650 MHz. The required RF power is approximately 20 W and is provided by an RF amplifier located outside the gun vessel. This RF power is coupled into the gun circuit through a ceramic transmission line. The design of this ceramic transmission line, as well as the impedance transformation circuit which provides both the impedance matching and the dc powers to the gun assembly are described., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

A pre-injector test bench at the Synchrotron Light Research Institute (SLRI) is under development as one of the preparations for the future SLRI light source and of choices for the possible upgrade of the current injector. The pre-injector test bench includes a pulsed thermionic gun, a fast pulse deflector, a buncher and a pre-buncher. The thermionic electron gun with a cathode made of a single crystal CeB6 is employed as an electron emitter providing small emittance and uniform electron density. The fast pulse deflector shorten the extracted electrons of a few microseconds to that of a few nanoseconds. The electron pulses are further bunched by both the 238 MHz pre-buncher and the 476 MHz buncher to allow the 1-MeV electron beam. The experimental setups for emittance and beam profile measurements are installed on a movable diagnostic stand which is, later on, replaced by the beam bunching devices. The designs of the test bench will be discussed in this paper., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The Institute for nuclear physics at TU Darmstadt houses the Superconducting Darmstadt Linear Accelerator S-DALINAC. A photo-electron gun using GaAs photocathodes to provide pulsed and/or polarized electron beams, the S-DALINAC Polarized Injector SPIn, has been installed * for future nuclear-structure investigations**. In order to conduct research and development for this source, a test facility for Photo-Cathode Activation, Test and Cleaning using atomic-Hydrogen (Photo-CATCH) has been constructed***. This setup provides several chambers for photocathode handling and a 60 keV beamline for photo-gun design studies****. Currently, an upgraded inverted insulator geometry is under investigation for Photo-CATCH that is supposed to be implemented at SPIn. We will present the current developments at Photo-CATCH and future measurements., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) is currently constructing a high average current superconducting (SC) ERL as a prototype to demonstrate low normalized beam emittance of 1 mm-mrad at 100 mA and short pulses of about 2 ps. To attain the required beam properties, an SRF based photo-injector system was developed and during the past year underwent RF commissioning and was setup within a dedicated diagnostics beamline called Gunlab to analyze beam dynamics of both, a copper cathode and a Cs2KSb cathode as well as their quantum efficiency at UV and green light respectively. The medium power prototype - a first stage towards the final high power 100 mA design - presented here features a 1.4 x λ/2 cell SRF cavity with a normal-conducting, high quantum efficiency CsK2Sb cathode, implementing a modified HZDR-style cathode insert. This injector potentially allows for 6 mA beam current and up to 3.5 MeV kinetic energy, limited by the modified twin TTF-III fundamental power couplers. In this contribution, the first RF commissioning results of the photo-injector module will be presented including dark current analysis as well as measured beam properties with an initially installed Copper cathode., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The first saturated lasing of the China Academy of Engineering Physics tera-hertz free electron laser (CTFEL) facility has been realized. In order to improve the performance of the CTFEL facility, the multi-alkali photocathode with much longer life-time has been proposed to replace the GaAs photocathode currently used. This paper presents the design of the multi-alkali photocathode preparation system, which consists of three chambers: the suitcase chamber, the preparation chamber, and the loading chamber. The function of each chamber is also discussed., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

We report the design and fabrication of a new type of negative electron affinity (NEA) gallium arsenide (GaAs) photocathode with optically resonant nanostructures. We observed a significant enhancement of the quantum effi-ciency (QE) from the GaAs photocathode with nanowire arrays (NWA) due to the Mie resonance effect within the intended wavelength range. Theoretical calculations of the expected reflectance behaviour together with experi-mental results of optical and photoemission characteris-tics are presented., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The photocathode RF gun is one of the most critical components for high quality electron beam sources. The asymmetric multi-pole field contributes to the transverse emittance growth and degrades the beam quality. In order to overcome the problem, we propose a novel rotationally symmetric 1.6 cell RF gun to construct the symmetric field in this paper. The concrete proposal is that a coaxial cell with a symmetrical distribution of four grooves is concatenated to the first 0.6 cell at the photocathode end to form a new resonant cell (NRC) to mantain the symmetric multi-pole field in 1.6 cell. Our simulations indicate that 3D multi-pole fields of NRC are with the perfect symmetry. After that, the profile of the RF gun is optimized to improve the shunt impedance and mode separation and make the surface peak electric field at the photocathode end. Our simulations demonstrate promising outlook of using coaxial cell for photocathode RF guns with various applications., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Numerical simulations and fabrication techniques are being used to investigate the use of surface acoustic waves to suppress electron-hole recombination on the surface of GaAs photocathodes in order to increase the quantum efficiency for polarized and unpolarized electron beam generation., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

A multipacting electron gun (MEG) is a micro-pulse electron source based on secondary electron emission in a resonant microwave cavity structure for the generation of low emittance electron bunches with high repetition rate. By theoretical simulations a suitable radio-frequency gun design at 3 GHz is established, simultaneously meeting the demands of bunch production and amplification process as well as including the effects of space charge and beam loading for the evolution of a stable beam. In this contribution we show detailed simulation studies of the impact of important design parameters like mechanical dimensions and choice of material on the average output current, which is in the order of several mA. For the experimental investigation a test setup is under construction, which may demonstrate the application of MEG's as a serious alternative or addition to commonly used electron sources like thermionic and photocathodes., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

At Waseda University, we have been studying for high quality electron beam generation and developing variety of application experiments using 1.6 cells photocathode RF-gun. We are using photocathode as the electron source, which can generate high-performance electron beam such as low emittance, short pulse. The performance of photocathodes is evaluated mainly in terms of Quantum Efficiency (Q.E.) and the lifetime. Cs-Te photocathode used in the RF-Gun at Waseda University is known for high Q.E. with UV light and relatively longer lifetime among semiconducting photocathodes. For increasing the charge of electron beam and simplify the laser system, we started introducing CsK2Sb photocathode in the RF-gun which has light sensitivity in UV and visible range, and high Q.E. with green light. However, CsK2Sb photocathode has a difficulty in durability and we observed that it was not enough for long-term operation in the RF-gun. Then we plan to improve lifetime and durability of CsK2Sb photocathode by coating the cathode surface with CsBr thin film. In this conference, we report the result of lifetime measurement of CsK2Sb photocathode with CsBr thin film and future prospects., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

RF photoinjectors are increasingly used to image at the nanoscale in much the same way as a Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), which are generally sub-MeV energy. We have conducted electron diffraction experiments through a thin membrane of single crystal silicon using both the TEM and photoinjector, and have been able to model and predict the diffraction patterns using the multislice method. A nanopatterned single crystal silicon grating was also imaged in the TEM in the bright field, where all but the direct beam of the diffraction pattern is blocked, giving high contrast spatial modulations corresponding to the 400 nm pitch grating lithographically etched into the silicon. Drawing from our previous multislice calculations, we determined the crystallographic orientation that maximized the contrast in this spatial modulation at the energy of the TEM, giving a bunching factor comparable to a saturated FEL. We report on these key steps toward control of radiation phase and temporal coherence in an FEL., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The MAX IV linac is investigated as a FEL driver in the SXL project, but there is also an ongoing investigation in using the linac as a driver for beam driven plasma wakefield acceleration experiments. From both these applications, double pulses from the photoinjector within the same RF period is desired. In this paper we discuss the possibilities of using the current photoinjector at MAX IV as driver and show simulations results from the pre-injector, both for FEL applications and for PWFA applications., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The VELA and CLARA front end accelerators at Daresbury are test facilities with a focus on FEL research and industrial applications of electron beams. Recently the CLARA injector has been commissioned with acceleration of beam to 50 MeV. For several years a normal conducting 2.5 cell S-band cavity RF gun operated at up to 80 MV/m has been used as the electron source for both VELA and CLARA. For further beam acceleration an S-band travelling wave 2m long cavity has been used. The gun has used several different copper cathodes throughout its operational life, employing different preparation techniques. Oxygen plasma treatment is a well-known procedure for removing hydrocarbon contamination from surfaces whereas Argon plasma treatment also removes contaminants and typically leaves a thinner oxide at the surface. In this study we compare dark current (from field emission), as measured directly after the gun, for these alternate surface preparations and also present results from post-use electron microscopy analysis of the photocathodes. Electromagnetic simulations are used to help explain the results., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The SLRI Beam Test Facility (SLRI-BTF), the latest extension of the existing accelerator complex, has recently been in operation at the Synchrotron Light Research Institute (SLRI). SLRI-BTF is capable of providing electron test beams with desired intensity and energy. By means of a wedge target downstream of the 40-MeV linac, the electron intensity of the test beam produced is variable between a few to millions of electrons per burst. The test beam energy is adjustable from 40 MeV to 1.2 GeV, depending on the acceleration time of the synchrotron booster. SLRI-BTF targets to service electron test beams to the development of the high-energy particle detectors and diagnostic instrumentations. In this paper, the measurement of the low intensity electron beam will be discussed., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

High intensity and highly spin-polarized electron source is of great interest to the next generation Electron Ion Colliders. GaAs prepared by the standard activation method, which is the most widely used spin-polarized photocathode, is notorious for its vacuum sensitivity and short operational lifetime. To improve the lifetime of GaAs photocathodes, we activated GaAs by Cs2Te, a material well known for its robustness. We confirmed the Cs2Te layer forms negative electron affinity on GaAs with a factor of 5 improvement in lifetime. Furthermore, the new activation method had no adverse effect on spin-polarization. Considering Cs2Te forms much thicker activation layer (~ 2 nm) compared to the standard activation layer (~ monolayer), our results trigger a paradigm shift on new activation methods with other robust materials that were avoided for their thickness., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Quantum efficiency (QE) is the chief figure of merit in the characterization of photocathodes. Semiconductor photocathodes, especially when used in high rep-rate photo-injectors, are known to show QE degradation over time and must be replaced. The total QE is the basic diagnostic which is used widely and is easy to obtain. However, a QE map indicating variations of QE across the cathode surface has greater utility. It can quickly diagnose problems of QE inhomogeneity. Most QE mapping techniques require hours to complete and are thus disruptive to a user facility schedule. A fast, single-shot method has been proposed (citation) using a micro-lens array (MLA) generated QE map. In this paper we report the implementation of the method at Argonne Wakefield Accelerator facility. A micro-lens array (MLA) is used to project an array of beamlets onto the photocathode. The resulting photoelectron beam in the form of an array of electron beamlets is imaged at a YAG screen. Four synchronized measurements are made and the results used to produce a QE map of the photocathode., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

For photoemission sources, the extraction electric field defines the maximum achievable emission current, and hence the maximum achievable beam brightness. Recently, interest has been growing in studying photocathodes with non-flat geometries to produce local field enhancements in excess of what can be achieved with large area flat cathodes. However, such geometries cause image charge effects which require self-consistent field solvers to correctly simulate. We present a novel simulation framework which combines a full particle in cell field solver (WARP) with a fast adaptive mesh space charge particle tracker (GPT) and a parallel multi-objective genetic optimizer to explore photocathode geometries for ultra high brightnesses. A first application of this technique is also shown, namely the use of field enhanced photoemission tips to create bright beams for ultra-fast electron diffraction., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The Synchrotron Light Research Institute (SLRI) has developed a new thermionic electron gun producing low emittance electron beam for the future upgrade of the existing one. The thermionic cathode made of a CeB6 single crystal is selected due to its properties providing high electron beam current, uniform current density, and high resistance to contamination. In addition, the CeB6 cathode of 3 mm in diameter can produce up to a few Amperes of electron beam current. The electron gun is pulsed at 500 kV with a few microseconds wide to avoid high voltage breakdown as well as to reduce space charge effect resulting in the emittance growth of the extracted electron beam. The preliminary simulation and design of the electron gun together with the high voltage system are described in the paper., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Microchannel plates were recently proposed as cathodes for electron guns, as part of a novel electron lens design to be tested in the IOTA facility at FNAL. We experimentally assessed the suitability of microchannel plate technology in this design and studied the microchannel plate based photomultiplier (MCP-PMT) system using different sources of light pulses. Here we present the results of the nanosecond time response tests and the maximum current density tests as well as the dependency on the magnetic field strength. Several ideas how to proceed beyond O(100 mA/cm²) density observed in the first tests., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Design of an energy-modified electron gun is of significance to do some research on the properties of Diamond-amplified cathode. Based on the design method of the Pierce electron gun, the optimum parameters of the electron gun have been obtained using the Opera-3D program. And the beam waist's position, the beam current, the beam size and the beam emittance related to the electron bean energy was investigated in this paper., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Over the last decade, alkali-antimonides have been investigated as high QE cathodes in green light and more recently as ultra-low intrinsic emittance cathodes in near-threshold red wavelengths at cryogenic temperatures*. Nano-meter scale surface non-uniformities (physical roughness and chemical roughness or work function variations) are thought to limit the smallest possible emittance from these materials at the photoemission threshold under cryogenic conditions**. Despite this, the surfaces of alkali-antimonides have not been well characterized in terms of the surface non-uniformities. Here, we present measurements of both the physical and chemical roughness of alkali-antimonide surfaces using several surface characterization techniques like atomic force microscopy, kelvin probe force microscopy, low energy electron microscopy and near-threshold photoemission electron microscopy and show how such non-uniformities limit the intrinsic emittance., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The state of the art in creating high quality electron beams for particle accelerator applications and next generation ultrafast electron diffraction and microscopy involves laser-generated photoemission. A high quality beam requires that electrons emerge from the surface with low mean transverse energy (MTE). Recent density-functional theory calculations by T. Li and W. A. S. [arXiv:1704.00194v1 [physics.acc-ph] (2017)] suggest that PbTe(111) will produce low-MTE photoelectrons due to the low effective electron mass associated with its electronic band structure. Based on this, we measured the distribution of photoelectrons from PbTe(111) and found the MTE to be about 20x larger than expected. To explain the apparent lack of transverse momentum conservation, we carried out many-body photoemission calculations including electron-phonon scattering. Our results are in far better agreement with the experiment, underscoring the importance of electron-phonon scattering in photoemission from PbTe(111), and suggest that cooling could mitigate the phonon effects on the MTE for this material., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

9th International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC 2018, Vancouver, Canada, 29 Apr 2018 - 4 May 2018; Geneva : JACoW Publishing 1612-1614 (2018). doi:10.18429/JACOW-IPAC2018-TUPML031, Electron beams of high quality, e.g., low emittance, are of crucial importance for cutting-edge scientific instruments, such as x-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) and ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) setups. A velocity-map-imaging (VMI) spectrometer was implemented to characterize the intrinsic root-mean-square (rms) normalized emittance from photocathodes. The spectrometer operated in both, spatial map imaging (SMI) and VMI modes. Therefore, spatial- and velocity-coordinates were recorded independently and quickly. The technique allows for fast complete emittance measurements, within minutes. A 75 μm pitch array of Au nanorods of dimension 100 × 30 ~ nm, was studied under strong-field-emission regime by 100 fs 1 kHz 1.3 μm laser pulses with a 300 × 30 μm² focus spot size on the sample. A patterned electron bunch was observed, each emitted from a single nanorod within the array. A polarization dependent photoemission study was performed showing a smaller rms-normalized divergence of 0.8 mrad with the laser polarization normal to the sample surface, compared to 1.15 mrad for the parallel case., Published by JACoW Publishing, Geneva

Cornell University is a leader in the development of photocathode materials for the production of high brightness electron beam sources for applications in large scale accelerators and small scale electron scattering experiments. During the last year we have also included Mott polarimetry to investigate long lifetime spin-polarized photocathodes materials. Another thrust of our laboratory is the exploration of ultra low emittance photocathodes at cryogenic temperatures, for which we are building a novel LHe cryogenic electron source. We will review updates from our lab across each of these areas., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Gallium nitride (GaN) is one promising candidate as photocathode material showing high quantum efficiencies which is one of the requirements for high brightness electron beams. In addition to reported quantum efficiencies of up to 70%, GaN needs to satisfy the demands for long lifetime, low dark current and low thermal emittance. In this contribution, the ongoing activities of the synthesis by means of reactive rf magnetron sputtering and characterization of GaN is presented. The latter is done by standard materials science methods and in-situ measurements of the quantum efficiency in combination with lifetime and dark current measurements to asses and optimize the photocathode's performance. Along with the project's details, first experimental results of GaN thin films synthesized utilizing a GaAs source are presented., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The high-charge PHIN photoinjector has originally been developed to study the feasibility of a photoinjector option for the drive beam of the CLIC Test Facility 3 (CTF3) at CERN and is now being used to investigate the feasibility of a drive beam photoinjector for CLIC. In this paper recent R&D efforts to improve the parameters of the existing system towards CLIC requirements will be discussed. This includes studies of a feedback loop for intensity stabilization, the upgrade of the PHIN vacuum system and the planned upgrade of the driving laser system. For photocathode production and R&D a dedicated photoemission laboratory is available at CERN. To increase the production rate of photocathodes and the availability of the photoemission lab for other studies, an upgrade of the photocathode preparation system with a load-lock system is under study and will also be presented., Proceedings of the 5th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2014, Dresden, Germany