Report of the Working Group on Electron Sources

J. Rosenzweig

UCLA Department of Physics,

405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024,

on behalf of the Working Group.

Abstract

We report in this paper on the activities of the working group on electron sources at
the Advanced Accelerator Workshop held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in June 1994. The
discussion, while dominated by the subject of rf photoinjectors, included explorations of
many novel areas in the state-of-the-art in electron source research and development. The
major points raised at the workshop are examined, and a guide to the detailed reports of the
members of the working group is provided.

I NTRODUCTION

The subject matter covered in this group at the workshop can be divided into two
categories, the generation of electrons at cathodes of various types, and the acceleration and
transport of the resulting high intensity, bunched electron beams. The first category
involves examination of the fundamental physics and technology of thermionic, field, and
photo-emission from surfaces in the presence of (generally) strong accelerating electric
fields. The second is a multidisciplinary field which spans the study of strong trans-
relativistic acceleration in strong electromagnetic fields, the collective space-charge
phenomena of intense beams, and the details of evolution of the phase space of these
beams, as well as the considerable technological challenges that development of these
sources of relativistic electrons present in practice. Although these two categories overlap
somewhat in the practical world, we discuss them here separately as distinct subjects. In
order to minimize redundancy, we will avoid lengthy examinations of areas which are
discussed in other papers in these proceedings.

A DVANCED E LECTRON -E MITTING S OURCES

Several new concepts in the generation of high intensity electron emitters were
presented at this workshop. Perhaps the least novel, or most familiar, were the photo-
emitters. The discussion of photo-emission was concerned in large part with achievement
high quantum efficiencies in materials robust enough to survive the harsh environment of rf
photoelectron guns.
Two materials in particular were notable in that their performance was exceptional
for materials of a given type. For metals, this material is Mg, which has been shown to
have quantum efficiencies an order of magnitude higher than other common metallic
cathode materials. In semiconductor cathodes, an exceptional improvement in performance
has been seen through use of Cs2Te, which unlike other materials of this class having
quantum efficiencies in the few percent range, is very forgiving of vacuum conditions
(including total loss of vacuum) if the cathode is cleaned by mild heating treatment. These
subjects are discussed in greater detail in the review by Travier[1] found elsewhere in these
proceedings.
The need for high duty cycle rf photoinjectors has driven the investigation of the
superconducting rf gun. The major unresolved issue in the design of this device is the
development of high quantum efficiency photocathode materials which will be tolerated by
the superconducting rf gun. A review of progress in this field can be found in the paper
by Fry and Konkol[2] in these proceedings.
Other, more novel electron emission mechanisms discussed included field emission
sources which, due to improved design of surface shape and materials, can be switched
with extremely low voltages. As pointed out in the discussion by Mondelli[3], the major
application of this technology may not be accelerator sources, but in field emission-based
compact video displays.
Development of compact electron sources based on ferroelectric sources which
utilize fast switching of bulk polarization to achieve emission, was discussed by Nation,
who presented work done at Cornell[4]. This novel mechanism allows for emission
current densities well in excess of the Child-Langmuir limit (which obviously does not
apply to this physical situation), and may find application in beams for microwave devices.

R F P HOTOINJECTOR D EVELOPMENT

The technical status of rf photoinjector projects around the world were summarized
in the plenary session by C. Travier[1]. Several of these projects were also discussed in
more detail in the working group, including presentations by representatives of the MIT[5],
UCLA/Fermilab[6], Argonne, Orsay, Los Alamos, and Brookhaven[7] groups. Progress
in both the number projects and quality of results since the last advanced accelerator
workshop were noted, with the commissioning of several of the photoinjectors listed
above. Of particular note as far as future directions are concerned, is the emergence of the
rf photoinjector as the design choice for linear collider test facilities[6] (and possibly linear
colliders themselves), and for x-ray FEL electron injectors[8]. The most use of rf
photoinjectors in these projects has considerable impact on photocathode drive laser design,
in particular due to duty cycle in the case of the TESLA Test Facility injector[6] and in
reproducibility requirements of the x-ray FEL application. These issues are described
further in the proceedings of the Lasers for RF Guns Workshop[9] held in May, 1994.
While the present record for beam brightness is help by the AFEL injector, which
achieved B ≈ 2× 1013 A/m2 using emittance compensation, the upgraded BNL design[7]
(adopted also by UCLA and the SLAC x-ray FEL injector) using this technique should give
an order of magnitude better performance, according to PARMELA calculations. The
physical mechanisms behind emittance compensation were discussed intensively in the
working group, and it was decided that the most pressing issue in the theory of
photoinjectors was the development of a useful analytical model of the process, due to the
difficult, time-consuming process of design based on computer simulation searches of
parameter space. As a first step in this direction, Serafini presented a refinement of the
model[10] originally proposed by K.J. Kim[11]. Serafini's work allows the improved
calculation of beam envelopes in photoinjectors, but as yet has not been extended to
describe the phase space dynamics of compensation.
Improvements in the understanding of photoinjector beam dynamics using a slightly
different approach appeared in two post-workshop papers of similar inspiration. In a paper
by Lin et al., the scaling of rf photoinjector performance with rf frequency[12] is
examined. In a more detailed paper by Rosenzweig and Colby[13], these frequency
scaling laws are independently discovered, in addition to scaling laws for charge (at a given
rf frequency). In this paper, the scaling laws are viewed as providing a way to use
existing, optimized emittance compensated designs to generate with ease new designs of
nearly identical performance, thus saving the designer the massive computational search
associated until now with the optimization process. Both of these papers examine the
frequency scaling of beam brightness, and find high frequency photoinjectors such as the
17 GHz MIT project to be favored. It should be noted that the implementation of emittance
compensation at this frequency (scaled, say, from the BNL design), will be very difficult
due to practical issues such as focusing solenoid design[13], and thus the brightness
advantage of very high frequency photoinjectors may be lessened.
With discussions of commissioning experience came considerable debate on
experimental techniques, especially in the area of emittance measurements. The two major
techniques considered were parametric quad scans, which because of space charge must be
compared to simulation, as is done at AFEL, and use of pepper pots, which eliminate the
space charge issue by collimation of most of the current. Future extensions of pepper pot
techniques to time-resolved methods, to diagnose emittance compensation, were also
discussed[6].

C ONCLUSIONS

The field of high brightness, picosecond electron sources is at a stage where the
theory, simulation and experiment are all arriving at a high level of maturity. The workshop
helped to identify crucial points where more work and understanding are needed, especially
for meeting the demands of new applications[6,8]. A short summary of the
recommendations of the working group in meeting these demands is:
• Development of a more complete theory of space-charge dominated beam dynamics,
including emittance compensation[14].
• Parametric experimental studies of rf photoinjector performance, and improved bench
marking of experiment to theory and computer simulation.
• Standardizing and bench marking computer simulations; improved to three-dimensional
modeling to deal with asymmetric sources[6] and beam compression.
• Improved sharing of design expertise and experimental techniques between labs.
Given the vigorous effort in this field around the world, it seems that many
demands will be met before too long.

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work performed with partial support from U.S. Dept. of Energy grants DE-
FG03-90ER40796 and DE-FG03-92ER40693, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant
BR-3225.
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