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Cesium telluride photocathodes

Article  in  Journal of Applied Physics · July 1995

DOI: 10.1063/1.359188 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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 Cesium telluride photocathodes
S. H. Kong, J. KinrossWright, D. C. Nguyen, and R. L. Sheffield

Citation: J. Appl. Phys. 77, 6031 (1995); doi: 10.1063/1.359188

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 Cesium telluride photocathodes
S. H. Kong,a) J. Kinross-Wright, D. C. Nguyen, and R. L. Sheffield
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
(Received 19 October 1994; accepted for publication 10 February 1995)
Cesium telluride (C$Te) photocathodes, with quantum efficiencies (QEs) of 15%-18% at 251 nm,
were fabricated by vapor deposition of Te and Cs onto a MO substrate and used as an electron source
for the Los Alamos Advanced Free-Electron Laser. In the fabrication chamber, the spectral response
from 25 1 to 578 nm was measured before and after a controlled exposure of several photocathodes
to air. The 251-nm QE dropped by about a factor of 20 when exposed to 2X 10v4 Torr of air for 1
h. Heating degraded photocathodes to 150-200 “C partially rejuvenated their QEs to about 60% of
the value before air exposure. The performance of Cs,Te as a source of electrons for accelerators
was evaluated in the photoinjector stage of the Advanced Free-Electron Laser. The response time,
saturation level, and dark current of cesium telluride photocathodes and the emittance and energy
spread of the resulting electron beam were determined to be sufficient for free electron laser
applications. 0 1995 American Institute of Physics.

1. INTRODUCTION II. BACKGROUND ON CESIUM TELLURIDE

The Los Alamos Advanced Free-Electron Laser used a
photocathode driven by a Nd:YLF mode-locked laser as a
source for l- to 3-nC electron pulses of 5-15 ps in length.
The electrons liberated from the photocathode are acceler-
ated in an rf linear accelerator (linac) to an energy of 14-20
MeV. Initially, we have used cesium potassium antimonide
(CsK,Sb) photocathodes, because they have high quantum
efficiencies (QEs) in the green. However,, the operational
lifetime of these cathodes is very short, about l-3 days of
normal operations. Photocathode materials used by other
groups as electron sources for electron accelerators include
various metals and lanthanum hexaboride, which are very
rugged but have relatively low QEs and must be driven by
ultraviolet (UV) light.tl’
Recently, we fabricated and tested ‘cesium telluride
(CssTe) photocathodes. Although Cs,Te is known for its ap-
plication in high-quantum-efficiency W photocathodes for
solar blind photomultiplier tubes, the important question is
whether it can be adapted as a high-brightness electron
source for a free electron laser (FEL) or other system based
on an electron accelerator. The Los Alamos Advanced FEL
has successfully lased with CssTe phot’ocathodes, a result
that dismisses any possibility of major flaws with this pho-
tocathode. However, we still need to consider several other
issues: operational lifetime, pulse length as a function of
charge extracted, maximum current, quality of the extracted
electron beam, and the level of dark current. Any deficiency
in those areas may adversely affect the operation of the FEL.
The European Center for Nuclear Research studied the issues
of lifetime, maximum current, and dark current for a CsZTe
photocathode in a lo-MVlm dc gun.3 They observed a 60-h
half-life for continuous running, a negligible dark current,
and a maximum current limited only by the saturation of the
gun caused by space-charge effects.
‘)Electronic mail:kong@lanl.gov
The compound CsZTe is a p-type semiconductor with a
band gap of 3.3 eV and an electron affinity that is roughly
0.2 eV. Thus Cs,Te has many properties that contribute to a
good photoemitter. Semiconductors are better than metals as
photoemitters because less light is reflected and because the
photoexcited electrons experience little electron-electron
scattering. P-type semiconductors exhibit more favorable
band bending from surface states than n-type semiconduc-
tors. Furthermore, a large ratio between the band gap E, and
the electron affinity EA is indicative of high quantum effi-
ciencies for photons with energy greater than E, + E, . The
mechanism for thermalization of the photoexcited electrons
is dominated by scattering with phonons instead of electrons
for semiconductors with large E,l EA ratios, which result in a
longer photoelectron-escape depth and a higher QE. A good
summary on these topics may be found in Ref. 4.
Powell probed the electron density of states of Cs,Te by
studying the energy distribution of the photoemitted
electrons.5 Powell determined that the first maximum in the
conduction-band density of states occurs at 4.05 eV above
the valence-band edge and that the first maximum in the
valence-band density of states occurs at 0.7 eV below the
valence-band edge. This finding suggests that an incidence
photon energy of at least 4.75 eV is desirable for inducing
efficient photoemission from Cs,Te. The photons from a
frequency-quadrupled Nd:YLF laser have an energy of 4.71
eV, sufficiently close to the desirable photon energy.
The QE for Cs,Te peaks at 40% for 7 eV photons (Fig.
1). The QEs at 4.71 eV (263-nm, frequency-quadrupled
Nd:YLF) and 4.88 eV (254-nm mercury line) are about 13%
and 16%, respectively. As expected, the QE is still changing
rather rapidly despite being well above E,+ EA (-3.5 eV)
since these values straddle the desirable energy of 4.75 eV
previously mentioned. The noticeable dip in QE above 7 eV
was attributed to the onset of electron-electron scattering be-
tween photoexcited electrons with an energy greater than
twice the gap energy and the valence electrons. The shoulder
in the spectral response that appears below 3.5 eV was tra-

J. Appl. Phys. 77 (II), 1 June 1995 0021-8979/95/77(11)/6031/8/$6.00 0 1995 American Institute of Physics 603f

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0 2 4 6 8 10
photon energy (eV)
FIG. 1. Spectral response data measured for a Cs,Te photocathode fabri-
cated at Los Alamos are compared with Powell’s data from Ref. 5.
ditionally attributed to excess cesium, which causes reduc-
tion in the UV QEs. However, Powell disputed this claim
and suggested that a two-phased system may be responsible.4
According to Coleman, a field enhancement by a factor
of 1.12 is expected for the QE at 254 nm and an applied
electric field of 3.5 MVlm.6 He also found that the depen-
dence of enhancement on the applied electric field E at a
wavelength X can be described by functions of the form:
Fh=1+axE”2+bxE.Usingthisequation, wemadearough
extrapolation from Coleman’s data, which go up to only 3.8
MVlm, and estimated that F,=254 ,,m= 1.54 for an applied
field of 20 MV/m. Assuming that the field enhancement at
263 and 254 run are about the same, we estimate the upper
limit for the 263 mn QE of Cs,Te to be about 20% when it
operates in the linac. The estimate also assumes operation at
well under the space-charge limit.
Despite the many studies on Cs2Te, little was known
until recently about its photoemissive properties in a poor
vacuum. The main indication that Cs,Te is likely ,to be rug-
ged was found in Sommer’s description of the fabrication
process of these materials. Sommer states that heating a pho-
tocathode can eliminate excess cesium in cesium antimonide
(Cs,Sb) but not in Cs2Te (Ref. 4), an implication that the
cesium atoms in Cs,Te are chemically bound tighter than
those in Cs,Sb. Therefore, we expected Cs2Te to be more
stable and less susceptible to contamination than Cs$b,
characteristics that were recently confirmed by the experi-
ments performed at the European Center for Nuclear
Research.3
III. FABRICATION OF Cs,Te PHOTOCATHODES
A. Description of the experimental setup
We fabricated Cs,Te photocatbodes in a separate
ultrahigh-vacuum research chamber with an ambient pres-
sure in the middle lo-*’ Torr range, which rose to the low
6032 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 77, No. 11, 1 June 1995
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lo-zTorr_range-during .the fabrication. The substrate was a
molybdenum plug designed to be inserted into the linac. The
plui iat in an oven that can be heated up to 600 “C. The oven
temperature was monitored with a thermocouple. The tem-
perature gradient between the oven and the cathode surface
was not known,~so all cathode temperatures quoted in this
paper are oven temperatures. The sources were positioned
about 3.2 cm from the face of the plug so that simultaneous
deposition was possible. Because of this geometry, the depo-
sition angle was about 10” from normal. A mask confined the
deposition to a l-cm2 area.
The tellurium source consisted of a small molybdenum
can of tellurium pieces that were 99.9999% pure. The can
was heated by thermocoax heater wires wound around the
can. The tellurium atoms escaped through a small hole at the
top of the can. Cesium was dispensed from a similar can
12 packed with a pbwdered mixture of cesium chromate gnd
titanium. We calibrated the deposition rate of the tellurium
boat with a quartz crystal thickness monitor. The quartz crys-
tal can be placed in front of the sources in place of the
molybdenum plug. We calibrated several thicknesses by ex-
posing the cathode to the tellurium source at a given tem-
perature for a given amount of time and noting the final
thickness reading. However, we cannot monitor or control
the temperature of the quartz crystal. A systematic error may
arise from the variation of the sticking coefficient with the
substrate temperature. Because we fabricated the Cs,Te films
at an elevated temperature, the calibration numbers were
probably high. The cesium source was not calibrated.
A battery was used to bias the cathode by -90 V relative
to the chamber over a distance of about 2-5 cm. The result
was an accelerating field of 1.8-4.5 kVlm. The photocurrent
was measured with a pi&ammeter. We illuminated the pho-
tocathode with light at several different wavelengths using an
Oriel 350-W mercury arc lamp followed by a f/l condenser
lens, a dichroic mirror, and a bandpass interference filter.
Using a fused silica lens, the light transmitted through the
bandpass filter was reimaged onto the photocathode through
an uncoated, fused-silica vacuum window. When accurate
measurements of QE were required, we measured the light
intensity with a calibrated silicon photodiode before measur-
ing the photocurrent. The trans&ssion of visible and UV
light through the fused-silica viewport was taken to be
90%t3% in the calculations for the incident-light intensi-
ties. The absolute uncertainty of the QE measurements is
about +15%. The relative uncertainty between measure-
ments made at the same wavelengths is about +5%.
The bandpass of the interference filters used varied from
8 to 30 nm. Because the wavelength of most of the filters
corresponds to a mercury line, the actual spectral width of
the filtered light would be less. However, there are significant
baseline intensities for these spectral lines. Table I summa-
rizes the data relevant to the interference filters and the mer-
cury lamp. The effective wavelength for a given filter is the
weighted average of the wavelengths’ in the spectral distribu-
tion’ of the filtered light. We estimated the spectral distribu-
tion by using the transmission curves of the interference fil-
ters, the reflection curves of the dichroic mirrors, and the
Kong et ai.
TABLE I. The effective wavelength of the filtered mercury light is calcu- tion of cesium with tellurium. The fabrication, starting from
lated by taking a weighted average over the contributing wavelengths.. the deposition of tellurium, typically took about 1 h.
.~
Filte? AA Hg linesb
b-4 b-4 (4 IREL &FF IV. CHARACTERIZATION OF Cs,Te PHOTOCATHODES
WITHIN THE RESEARCH CHAMBER
254 8 248 6 1 251
298 18 296.8 4 0.18 304 A. Phqtocathodes to be characterized
302.2 0.27
303c 18 0.32 Data were collected from five photocathodes, designated
312.6 5 0.23 as PCl, PC2, PC3, PC4, and PC5. All were fabricated
334 24 302.2 4 0.02 328 with the same level of exposure to tellurium vapor, which
312.6 5 0.13 resulted in a tellurium layer of about 130 A on a quartz-
32gc 20 0.58
crystal thickness monitor positioned in place of a cathode.
334 3 0.25
365 5 0.02 Cathodes PC1 , PC2, PC3, and PC4 were fabricated at
365 20 365 5 0.73 366 temperatures between 100 and 110 “C. We fabricated PC5 at
361' 20 0.27 room temperature to determine whether an elevated tempera-
404 20 404.7 4 0.71 405 ture is necessary, and we heated one photocathode in the set,
406.5' 20 0.29
450 36 435.8 4 0.5 444
PC4, to 170 “C at the end of the fabrication.
453= 36 0.5
5cKl 36 50T 40 0.97 503 B. Spectral response
546.1 4 0.03
546 19 546.1 4 0.87 546 We used a 350-W mercury arc lamp with several band-
546' 19 0.13 pass filters to measure the QEs of the five Cs2Te photocath-
511 21 578 6 0.85 518 odes at several wavelengths. The UV spectral response of
57sc 21 0.15
PC1 .compares well with data taken by Powell (Fig. 1).
The interference band pass filters are labeled by their central wavelengths. However, the PC1 data have a broader cutoff below 4 eV
To the right of these values are the FWHM of the transmission peaks. because of the relatively large spectral width of the incident
bThe relevant mercury lines for the mercury lamp are listed with their widths light (Table I). The PC1 data also have a larger low-energy
(FWHM) and relative intensities.
%r contribution of the baseline of the mercury lamp spectrum was treated
shoulder. This discrepancy is not surprising because the low-
as another line with a shape and position determined by the transmission energy shoulder varies in size significantly from different
curves of the relevant interference filter and dichroic mirror. data sources, even among our Cs2Te photocathodes (Fig. 2).
The QEs of the five photocathodes compare very well at
251 nm (Fig. 2). Variations are progressively larger at lower
spectral intensity curve of the mercury arc lamp. We will photon energies. In particular, the response to visible light is
quote the effective wavelength when referring to QE mea- significantly less for PC4 and PC5, which were fabricated
surements. differently from the other photocathodes in the set, as de-
scribed in the previous section. The smaller variations in the
B. Fabrication procedure spectral response among PC 1, PC2, and PC3 are probably
due to variations in the cesium content.
The molybdenum plugs were precleaned with soap and
water, followed by an ethanol wipe, before they were
C. Uniformity
mounted in a ladder that holds up to seven plugs in a vacuum
transport chamber. This pack of cathodes was mounted onto We measured the photocurrent at several positions on
a six-way cross that served as the vacuum interlock. The PC2 to evaluate the uniformity achieved in the photoemis-
cross and the cathode pack were pumped out and baked at sive response of the Cs,Te film. Figures 3 and 4 show the
200 “C. After the bake, a single cathode was inserted into a photocurrent maps of PC2 at 543.5 and 248 nm. A green
portable oven on the end of an actuator and moved to the helium-neon laser and a mercury arc lamp were used. The
main chamber. We baked the molybdenum plug at 300- “C_for uniformity is distinctly less at 543.4 nm. The deep valley in
several hours to further clean the cathode surface. the 543.5-nm map cotiesponds to a peak in the 248-nm map.
The fabrication procedure is similar to that for Cs,Sb This region of the photocathode is clearly less uniform and is
(Ref. 4). First, we deposited a film of tellurium with a thick- due to the evaporation geometry. The sources are pointed at
ness between 100 and 300 w onto the surface of the molyb- the center of the cathode with an angle approximately 10”
denum plug. While monitoring the photocurrent at 251 nm, from normal, which results in a variation in the deposition
we exposed the tellurium film to cesium vapor until the pho- rate across the surface. The deep valley in the 543.5-nm map
tocurrent peaked and has decreased by lo%-20%. Then the and the corresponding peak in the 248-nm map result from a
deposition of cesium was stopped by turning off the boat smaller ratio of cesium to tellurium content in that area. Ex-
heater. The photocurrent started to recover and eventually cess cesium reduces the QE at 248 nm but boosts the QE at
reached a level near where it peaked. During the entire pro- 543.4 nm. If we ignore this small area, PC2 is fairly uniform
cess, we maintained the cathode oven temperature between in its response to 248-nm light, varying by only 25%. We
100 and 110 “C to help prevent excess cesium and contami- can reduce the nonuniformity caused by deposition at a small
nants from condensing on the film and to facilitate the reac- angle by positioning the cathode so that the source is not

J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 77, No. 11, 1 June 1995 Kong et ai. 6033

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 0 PC1
10-l : -PC2
v PC3
_ ---~ PC4
--..-.-. p (-5
1o-2 -
4
.dE
0
/
r;: -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
‘;;;
x-axis (mm)
E
$ FIG. 3. Photocurrent
mapfor 543.5nm on the surfaceof photcathode
PC2.
2 A 2-mm HeNe laser beam was rastered over the surface of the photocathode.
4 The maximum photocurrent measured was normalized to unity.
c?

procedure, we exposed PC1 for another 91.5 h to a vacuum

photon energy
FIG. 2. Spectral response data for Cs,Te photocathodes, PCl, PC2, PC3,
PC4, and PC5. Figure 1 displays the data for PC1 . The quantum efficien-
cies are measured for the wavelengths listed in Table I.
pointed at the center but nearer to the far edge of the cathode
with respect to the source. However, repositioning requires
careful alignment and will be attempted in future studies.
with an average pressure of 4X10B7 Torr. Afterwards, we
measured the spectral response again (Fig. 5). The 251-nm
QE dropped to 3.1%. If an exponential decay in QE is as-
sumed, then a l/e time constant of 15 h is obtained for the
tist stage and 177 h for the second stage. Clearly, the decay
in QE is not exponential. The result suggests that as the
photocathode is exposed to contamination, the surface be-
comes passivated. Thus, it is apparent that Cs,Te is reason-
ably rugged, and the possibility of its use in a medium-to-
(eV) high vacuum system is promising.
We exposed PC3 to air through a variable leak valve at
an average pressure 2X10m4 Torr range for 5 min. The
251-nm QE dropped from 17.8% to 0.70%. After measuring
the spectral response, we exposed PC3 to air at an average
pressure of 2X 1O-4 Ton: for 55 min more, causing the QE to
drop to 0.50%. Figure 6 displays the spectral responses fol-
lowing these stages. The first 5 min of exposure was detri-

D. Effects of air contamination -4

It is important to determine the level of vacuum neces- -3

00.9-l
sary to keep CszTe photocathodes from degrading to the
.2 El 0.8-0.9
point of uselessness. Tolerance to vacuum levels on the order
of low7 Torr is desirable, because it can be easily achieved 0.7-0.8
-1 -g
without baking the vacuum chambkr. The tolerance to HO.6-0.7
.E.
.O .2 WO.50.6 J
vacuum conditions greater than 10m4Torr will determine the
3
degree of care needed for transferring the photocathode from -1 A
the fabrication chamber to the photoinjector. .-2
We exposed PC1 for 17 h to an average vacuum of
1 X10M7 Torr by isolating the photocathode in the vacuum .-3

interlock cross and pumping on this section with a turbo

pump through a partially closed valve. During the exposure, -5 -4 3 -i 0 i
the vacuum pressure dropped from 4X 10M7 to 5X 10v8 Torr. x-axis (mm)
After the exposure, PC1 was transferred back to the main
PIG. 4. Photocurrent map for 248 nm on the surface of photocathode PC2.
chamber, and the spectral response was remeasured (Fig. 5). Light (248 nm) from the mercury lamp was focused to a 2-mm spot on the
The 251-nm QE dropped from 15.7% to 5.2%, and the shoul- photocathode and rastered over the face. The maximum photocurrent mea-
der at 3 eV was no longer well defined. Following the same sured was normalized to unity.

6034 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 77, No. 11, 1 June 1995 Kong et a/.

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 loo
10-l
1 o-2
1 o-3
1 o-4
lo+
lo-”
1 o-’
photon energy (eV)
FIG. 5. Spectral response data for photocathode PC1 before and after 17 h
of exposure to 1X 10s7 Torr of outgassing, followed by 91.5 h of exposure
to 4X 10W7Tort of outgassing. The spectral response data for PC1 after
rejuvenation ate also displayed.
mental; further exposure was of less consequence. Therefore,
any attempt to transfer Cs,Te in nitrogen or poor vacuum
will probably require the ability to rejuvenate the photocath-
ode after the transfer.
PC5 and PC4 were exposed to 2X 10m4Ton of air. The
251-nm QE of PC5 dropped from 15.8% to 2.0% after 5
min and to 1.1% after 55 min. The 251~nm QE of PC4
dropped from 16.4% to 1.1% after 5 min and to 0.79% after
55 min (Table II). Because PC5 is at least as rugged as PC3
and PC4, we conclude that fabricating photocathodes at
room temperature does not affect their ability to withstand
degradation by exposure to air. Furthermore, a small en-
hancement in durability may be expected. This is not a firm
conclusion because PC5 probably has a thicker film, which
may also result in a more rugged photocathode. Figure 7
shows the effect of air exposure on the spectral response of
PC5.
E. Rejuvenation of degraded photocathodes
We found that photocathodes degraded by exposure to
poor vacuum conditions could be rejuvenated by heating
them above 100 “C for several hours. After PC2 was de-
graded by the method mentioned in the previous section, it
was held at 110 “C for about 12 h. A noticeable increase in
QE occurred when the photocathode temperature rose above
100 “C. After the photocathode cooled to room temperature,
the spectral response was measured (Fig. 5). The 251~nm QE
recovered to 11.3%, which is a respectable value. The shoul-
der at 3 eV was restored to a level higher than that before
contamination, but the response below this point fell quickly
to a level lower than that before the degraded photocathode
was heated. After storing the rejuvenated photocathode in a
vacuum of 10B9 Torr for three weeks, the 251-nm QE
dropped to 4.7%. A virgin photocathode may be stored for
J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 77, No. 11, 1 June 1995
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L
10-l r
1o-2 r
1o-3 F
1o-4 b
1o-5 7
1o-6 F
1 o-'
;
1 o-a I , I I 1
2 3 4 5
photon energy (eV)
FIG. 6. Spectral response data for photocathode PC3 before, after 5 min,
and after 60 min of exposure to 2X low4 Torr of air. The spectral response
data for PC3 after rejuvenation ate also displayed.
weeks in a vacuum of 10v9 Torr with little degradation. It
appears that rejuvenated photocathodes take time to reach
chemical equilibrium.
We partially rejuvenated PC3 and PC5 similarly by
heating them to 175 “C for about 12 and 2 h, respectively.
After 1 h at 175 “C, further heating increased the QE insig-
nificantly. We found that the rejuvenation of heavily con-
taminated photocathodes is best achieved when they are
heated to 150-200 “C. The 251-nm QE of PC3 peaked at
15.0% while the photocathode was hot and stabilized at
10.4% after PC3 cooled to room temperature. Figure 6
shows the spectral response curves for the rejuvenated PC3
after it cooled. The rejuvenation was successful for photon
energies above 2.7 eV. The 251-nm QE of PC5 stabilized at
9.4%. Long-term stability was not monitored. Only the UV
response was measured for PC5 (Fig. 7).
To evaluate the ruggedness of rejuvenated photocath-
odes, we gave PC3 another round of exposure to 2X10F4
Torr of air. After 5 min of exposure, the 25 1-nm QE dropped
from 10.4% to 2.74%. Further exposure for 55 min resulted
in a 251-nm QE of 1.2%. The spectral response curves were
measured after each exposure (Fig. 8). Clearly, the ultraviolet
QE of the rejuvenated PC3 is less affected by exposure to
air than that of the virgin P C3.
We also observed that the QEs of the rejuvenated pho-
tocathodes are often influenced by exposure to UV light.
This behavior varies widely between rejuvenated photocath-
odes. Typically, the QE at UV wavelengths decays with time
for several minutes, an effect that seems to reverse com-
pletely when the UV light is blocked. Furthermore, the effect
is relatively small, about lo%-20%, at 251 nm. Greater ef-
fects have occurred for the 328-nm QE measurements. In
particular, exposure to 251~nm light can greatly suppress the
328-nm QE for several minutes. We are not certain of the
cause of these effects. The long decay and recovery times
suggest that surface trapping levels created by the contami-
Kong et al. 6035
 TABLE II. The quantum efficiencies of PC3, PC4, and PC5 for three wavelengths.

251~nm QEsb 304~nmQEsb 328-m QEsb

Photocathode? (%) (%) Pa
PC3 17.8/0.70/0.50 2.1/0.050/0.043 0.49/0.013/0.012
Rejuvenated PC3 10.4/3.0/1.2 1.5/0.30/0.070 0.26/0.067/0.014
PC4 16.4/1.1/0.79 2.4/0.063/0.038 0.63/0.013/0.009
PC5 15.8/2.0/1.1 3.0/0.21/0.080 0.73/0.041/0.018’
Rejuvenated PC5 9.4 1.7 0.46

“The photocathodes were exposed to 2X 10s4 Torr of air.

bThe QEs separated by slashes represent measurements made prior to air exposure, after 5 mm of air exposure,
and after 60 mm of air exposure.

nation process may be responsible. This may be related to
the charge limiting effect observed in the operation of cesi-
ated gallium arsenide photocathodes.
The rejuvenation results are encouraging and suggest
that the operational lifetime of Cs,Te photocathodes may be
extended by heating them while they are in use or after they
are contaminated. Furthermore, a nitrogen-purge transfer
system may be feasible. We are currently not equipped to
heat cathodes in the photoinjector.
V. OPERATION OF THE Cs2Te PHOTOCATHODE
THE LOS ALAMOS ADVANCED FEL
A. Description of the photoinjector and the rf linac
The source of high-current electron pulses for the Los
Alamos Advanced FEL is a photoinjector that forms the first
half-cell of a high gradient rf linac. The klystron-powered
linac consists of ten and one-half on-axis coupled rf cavities
with a single rf feed. The linac is 1.2 m long and capable of
accelerating electrons to a maximum energy of 25 MeV. The
surface of the photocathode is flush with the wall of the first
half-cell. The maximum electric field on the surface of the
cathode during operation at 16 MeV is about 20 MVlm.
The drive laser consists of a Nd:YLF oscillator mode
locked at 108.33 MHz (12th subharmonic of the rf) and a
double-pass amplifier. A Pockels cell switches out variable
length macropulses to be frequency quadrupled with a
lithium borate crystal followed by a beta barium borate crys-
tal. A typical lo-,us electron macropulse consists of 1080
micropulses, each 5-15 ps in duration. Typical operations
require l-3 nC of charge per micropulse. A calibrated toroid
is used for the current measurements and optical transition
IN radiation (OTR) screens for the beam profile measurements.
Further detail on the instrumentation appears in Refs. 8
and 9.
B. Quality of the electron beam
The quality of an electron beam is typically character-
ized by the emittance, brightness, and energy spread. Driving
a cathode with photons well above threshold results in a
spread in the transverse and longitudinal components (rela-
tive to the electron beam axis) of the photoelectron kinetic

.----- before rejuvenation

0 rejuvenated 10-l $- 0 0 min
c --- 5 min exposure --- 5min
1o-2 r
- 60 min exposure ____-_ 60 min
1o-2 F - rejuvenated
to-3 F 3
5 1o-3 r
1o-4 r
‘.di;
3 1o-4 r
1o-5 r E
5
-2 1o-5 g-
1o-6 r 2d
1 o-'

1 o-8
h

1o-g I ~I 1 I I 'I -,0-B t I I I I 1

2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5
photon energy (eV) photon energy (eV)

PIG. 7. Spectral response data for photocathode PC5 before, after 5 mm, FIG. 8. Spectral response data for the rejuvenated PC3 before, after 5 mm,
and after 60 mm of exposure to 2X 1O-4 Torr of air. The spectral response and after 60 mm of exposure to 2X1O-4 Torr of air. The spectral response
data for PC5 after rejuvenation are also displayed. data for PC3 before rejuvenation are also displayed.

6036 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 77, No. 11, 1 June 1995 Kong et al.

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 20 I I I

o Data 0
G- - PARMEM
2
ig/ 80 0 /
15 0
fi
2.
h
2 60
2
3 10
.ec
0 <
1
2 4o
/
P o- -
s 0
sii 5
20
a

0
0
I
10
1
20
I
30
time
I
40
(ps)
,
50
I
60
I
70 03 0 1 2 3 4

micropulse charge (nC)

FIG. 9. Electron beam intensity as a function of time averaged over the
1. I-nC micropulses in a macropulse. The solid curve is a Gaussian fit to the PIG. 10. Pulse length of the electron beam micropulse as a function of
data. The instrumental resolution is 85~1 ps and has not been deconvoluted charge. The solid curve is the dependence calculated with PARMELA simula-
from the data. tions.

energy. However, this energy spread is on the order of one
eV, so it is not expected to affect the energy spread of the
electron beam noticeably. Single-pulse measurements
yielded a full width at half maximum (FWHM) energy
spread of 0.13%, which approaches the theoretical limit set
by the fraction of an rf wavelength the drive laser pulse is on.
The emittance of the electron beam was estimated by
measuring the waist of the electron beam core at the first
OTR screen as a function of the field strength of a magnetic
quadrupole that is 27 cm upstream. We fit the data to a theo-
retical curve in order to extract a value that represents the
emittance of an electron beam with an ellipsoidal distribution
in phase space. However, because the electron beam gener-
ated does not have such a distribution, the extracted value is
not the true root-mean-square emittance. Nevertheless, the
values extracted can be used as a figure of merit in a com-
parison of the quality of electron beams obtained from
CsK$b and CszTe photocathodes. The emittance value mea-
sured for Cs,Te divided by the value measured for CsK,Sb
gives a ratio of 0.9rtO.3. Therefore, we see no significant
difference in the measured emittance.
C. Pulse length
The lengths of the electron micropulses were measured
with a Hamamatsu model Ml955 streak camera trained on
the OTR light generated promptly by electrons striking a
metal screen. We processed the streak images on a computer
to extract the FWHM pulse lengths by generating an inten-
sity profile versus time, and we removed the broadening
from the finite resolution of the image by subtracting in
quadrature, (r,,&‘= (T,,,)~- (T,,)~. Since no discernible
tail was observed in the temporal response (Fig. 9). the
FWHM of the intensity profile is a good measure of the
electron beam pulse length. The pulse length of the drive-
laser beam was also measured with the streak camera, which
we calibrated by inserting a stack of fused-silica windows in
the path of the laser beam and measuring the distance the
streak-image moves on the video monitor. The calibration is
given by ps/pixel=(n - 1 )Llc, where L is the length of the
stack, n is the index of refraction of fused silica, and c is the
speed of light.
The measurements were made at several different charge
densities (Fig. 10). The pulse length of the green beam of the
drive laser is 623 ps prior to being frequency doubled into
the UV. The resolution of the streak images is 8+2 ps. Radio
frequency compression in the first cell bunches the electron
pulses, whereas the space-charge effect expands them. The
data compare reasonably well with the results from PARMELA
simulations. Therefore, any increase in pulse length as a re-
sult of the photoemission process from Cs,Te is less than the
uncertainties in our pulse-length measurement, which is
about +3 ps.
D. Saturation level
We were able to extract 2.020.2 nC/micropulse over an
area of 9.823 mm2 in a rf field of 20 MVlm. This value is
comparable with the space-charge limit of 1.7kO.5 nC/
micropulse. The macropulse length is 5 p or 540 micro-
pulses. This micropulse spacing gives a saturation current
density of 2.250.7 A/cm2 over the macropulse. Therefore,
for current densities up to this level, space-charge effects
dominate the saturation of the photocathode.
E. Dark current
The observed dark current of Cs2Te photocathodes oper-
ating at 16 MeV, which corresponds to a maximum electric

J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 77, No. 11, 1 June 1995 Kong et a/. 6037

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 field of 20 MV/m, is negligible and less than that observed
for CsK,Sb. Because the level of dark current is close to the
sensitivity limit of our instruments, we can only estimate an
upper limit of 0.4 mA/cm2.
F. Lifetimes
The operational lifetime of Cs,Te photocathodes in the
Los Alamos Advanced FEL has not been well established at
this time because the lifetimes are long. The initial 263~run
QE of new photocathodes with the operating beam at low
charge is 8%-12%. A small amount of QE degradation from
small air leaks sometimes occurs during the transfer of the
photocathodes from the fabrication chamber to the photoin-
jector. The pressure in the linac was in the low 10-l’ Torr
range without the electron beam and rose into the high 10-l’
Torr to low lo-’ Ton range when the electron beam was
present. With degradation from the transfer process and ini-
tial arcing in the linac, the QE of PC2 stabilized at about 3%
to 5% during operation in the linac. After 100 h of operating
beam, we observed no significant loss in QE beyond the
initial drop. This behavior is similar to that observed when
we exposed PC1 to air at levels of 10B7 Torr for several
days and noticed that the rate of degradation slowed drasti-
cally when the QE dropped to about 3%-5%. Lf we consider
the photocathode dead when the QE drops below l%, the
lifetime is probably well beyond 100 h. We also concluded
that the lifetime of Cs2Te is much greater than that of
CsK,Sb.
VI. LASING WITH A Cs,Te PHOTOCATHODE
The Los Alamos Advanced FEL has successfully lased at
wavelengths of 5-6 pm with Cs,Te photocathodes. We ob-
served no difference in the quality of lasing when a Cs,Te
photocathode was used in place of a CsK,Sb photocathode,
except a deterioration in lasing stability caused by increased
fluctuations in the drive-laser beam. The necessity of
frequency-quadrupling the output of the Nd:YLF laser is the
one disadvantage of switching to a Cs,Te photocathode be-
cause it magnifies the instabilities in the drive-laser system
and requires working with UV radiation. However, the insta-
bilities can be remedied by upgrading to a diode-pumped
oscillator and amplifier laser system.
VII. CONCLUSIONS
We evaluated the performance of Cs,Te photocathodes
in the Los Alamos Advanced FEL. The emittance of electron
6038 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 77, No. 11, 1 June 1995
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Downloaded 15 Apr
beams extracted from a Cs,Te photocathode is comparable
with that from a CsK,Sb photocathode. With a QE of about
12% at 263 nm and an operational lifetime of over 100 h, the
Cs,Te photocathode are clearly superior. Furthermore, ex-
periments in the fabrication chamber have also shown that
the UV response of air-contaminated Cs,Te photocathodes
can be revived by heating them to 150-200 “C. These results
suggest that in a system capable of heating photocathodes up
to 150 “C, the effective lifetime may be extended consider-
ably if the other photocathode properties have not been com-
promised.
Within a measurement uncertainty of 3 ps, we observed
no lengthening of the electron pulse except that caused by
space-charge effects. The shortest electron pulse measured
was about 6 ps with no discernible tail. With a surface field
of 20 MVlm, charge was extracted from Cs,Te photocath-
odes near the space charge limit. The dark current is also
negligible during operation at this field level. Therefore, the
performance of Cs,Te photocathodes in the Los Alamos Ad-
vanced FEL is excellent.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work is supported by Los Alamos National Labora-
tory Directed Research and Development under the auspices
of the U.S. Department of Energy. We also acknowledge
Stephen Gierman, John Plato, Steven Russel, Boyd Sher-
wood, Floyd Sigler, Robert Springer, and Michael Weber for
their assistance in the project.
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