High brightness, high charge electron beams are critical for a number of advanced accelerator applications. The initial emittance of the electron beam, which is determined by the mean transverse energy (MTE) and laser spot size, is one of the most important parameters determining the beam quality. The bialkali photocathodes illuminated by a visible laser have the advantages of high quantum efficiency (QE) and low MTE. Furthermore, Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) guns can operate in the continuous wave (CW) mode at high accelerating gradients, e.g. with significant reduction of the laser spot size at the photocathode. Combining the bialkali photocathode with the SRF gun enables generation of high charge, high brightness, and possibly high average current electron beams. However, integrating the high QE semiconductor photocathode into the SRF guns has been challenging. In this article, we report on the development of bialkali photocathodes for successful operation in the SRF gun with months-long lifetime while delivering CW beams with nano-coulomb charge per bunch. This achievement opens a new era for high charge, high brightness CW electron beams.

High-bunch-charge photoemission electron-sources operating in a continuous wave (CW) mode are required for many advanced applications of particle accelerators, such as electron coolers for hadron beams, electronion colliders, and free-electron lasers (FELs). Superconducting RF (SRF) has several advantages over other electron-gun technologies in CW mode as it offers higher acceleration rate and potentially can generate higher bunch charges and average beam currents. A 112 MHz SRF electron photoinjector (gun) was developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) to produce high-brightness and high-bunch-charge bunches for the Coherent electron Cooling Proof-of-Principle (CeC PoP) experiment. The gun utilizes a quarter-wave resonator (QWR) geometry for assuring beam dynamics, and uses high quantum efficiency (QE) multi-alkali photocathodes for generating electrons.

We developed modeling capabilities, within the Vorpal particle-in-cell code, for three-dimensional simulations of surface effects and electron emission from semiconductor photocathodes. They include calculation of emission probabilities using general, piece-wise continuous, space-time dependent surface potentials, effective mass, and band bending field effects. We applied these models, in combination with previously implemented capabilities for modeling charge generation and transport in diamond, to investigate the emission dependence on applied electric field in the range from approximately 2 MV/m to 17 MV/m along the [100] direction. The simulation results were compared to experimental data. For the considered parameter regime, conservation of transverse electron momentum (in the plane of the emission surface) allows direct emission from only two (parallel to [100]) of the six equivalent lowest conduction band valleys. When the electron affinity χ is the only parameter varied in the simulations, the value χ = 0.31 eV leads to overall qualitative agreement with the probability of emission deduced from experiments. Including band bending in the simulations improves the agreement with the experimental data, particularly at low applied fields, but not significantly. Using surface potentials with different profiles further allows us to investigate the emission as a function of potential barrier height, width, and vacuum level position. However, adding surface patches with different levels of hydrogenation, modeled with position-dependent electron affinity, leads to the closest agreement with the experimental data.

Measurements of photo-yields from various topological insulators (TIs) in ultra-high vacuum were made. Marked differences in the photoelectric yield were found between the freshly in-vacuum cleaved and the atmosphere cleaved TI samples. The spectral dependence of their quantum efficiency (QE) was obtained in as-cleaved and cesiated TI samples. Inferred work functions ranging from 5 to 5.5 eV were found in all TI samples before cesiation, and they were lowered by ∼0.5 eV after cesiation. At the ultraviolet wavelength of 268 nm, the QE of all samples is ∼2 × 10−7 before cesiation but improved to 10−4–10−3 after cesiation. Knowledge of the QE has practical implication and can serve as a useful guide for the development of a spin-polarized electron source. However, the spin polarized nature of the photo-emitted electron remains yet to be explored.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract