Operational experience of photocathodes for HZDR SRF gun

The SRF gun-II at HZDR has been stably applied as the electron source for high power THz radiation since 2018, generating CW beams with bunch charges up to 300 pC at 100 kHz. It is an excellent demonstration that SRF guns can work reliably in a high power user facility. As well known, that the quality of the photocathodes is critical for the stability and reliability of the gun operation. In last years, thank to the successful ps UV laser cleaning, Mg photocathodes were successfully used for gun operation at kHz repitition rate. In order to satisfy user request of MHz operation, Cs2Te is still in demand. However, the Mo plugs were overheated in superconducting rf cavity due to thermal contact problem, and SRF Gun-II faced twice serious contamination in 2017. The Cs2Te could not be used in gun untill Cu is adopted in stead of Mo as new substratum. Up to now three Cs2Te cathodes on Cu plugs have been applied in the Gun-II. In this contribution, we will present the operational aspect of the photocathodes for SRF gun, and discuss the possible improvement in the future application.