Production And Studies Of Photocathodes For High Intensity Electron Beams

For short, high-intensity electron bunches, alkali-tellurides have proved to be a reliable photo-cathode material. Measurements of lifetimes in an RF gun of the CLIC Test Facility II at field strengths greater than 100 MV/m are presented. Before and after using them in this gun, the spectral response of the Cs-Te and Rb-Te cathodes were determined with the help of an optical parametric oscillator. The behaviour of both materials can be described by Spicer's 3-step model. Whereas during the use the threshold for photo-emission in Cs-Te was shifted to higher photon energies, that of Rb-Te did not change. Our latest investigations on the stoichiometric ratio of the components are shown. The preparation of the photo-cathodes was monitored with 320 nm wavelength light, with the aim of improving the measurement sensitivity. The latest results on the protection of Cs-Te cathode surfaces with CsBr against pollution are summarized. New investigations on high mean current production are presented.Comment: Submission to LINAC2000 conference, Paper number MOB08, 3 pages, 6 figure

Cesium-Telluride Photocathode No. 166

In the CERN photoemission laboratory, a Cs2 Te photocathode has been produced in December 2006. The co-evaporation of Cs and Te onto a copper substrate is observed with two quartz oscillator thickness monitors. The calibration of these monitors and the resulting Cs and Te layer thicknesses are described, and the calculated stoichiometric ratio of the sample is given. The quantum efficiency of cathode No. 166, measured using the cathode in a DC gun, has been found to be 6.2%

Photo-cathodes for the CERN CLIC Test Facility

Since 1993 the CLIC Test Facility (CTF) has used laser-illuminated Tellurium Alkali photo-cathodes as intense electron sources (up to 50 nC in 10 ps), for the Drive Beam of a two-beam accelerator. These cathodes have been produced and tested in our photo­emission laboratory and transported under vacuum to the CTF. They are placed in a 3 GHz RF gun with a 100 MV/m electric field. This RF gun produces a train of 48 pulses, each of 13.4 nC charge and 10 ps length. The CTF Probe Beam has used air­transportable cesium iodide + germanium photo­cathodes in another RF gun, which produces a single pulse of the same duration but with only 1 nC charge. The optical damage threshold in the laser is the main limitation of energy available on the photo­cathode. From an operational point of view, the photo­cathode lifetime is defined to be the time during which the cathode is able to produce the nominal charge with the nominal laser energy. After having recalled the main characteristics of the photo-cathodes tested, this note describes in more detail the performa nce obtained in operation. The possibility of photo-cathode production at the RF gun in a simplified evaporation chamber will also be discussed

X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy Studies of Cesium Antimonide Photocathodes for Photoinjector Applications

AbstractWithin the CLIC (Compact Linear Collider) project, feasibility studies of a photoinjector option for the drive beam as an alternative to its baseline design using a thermionic electron gun (Geschonke et al. [1]) are on-going. This R&D program covers both the laser and the photocathode side. Cesium antimonide cathodes were produced at CERN by co-deposition onto copper substrates and characterized by photoemission and by XPS (X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy) analysis. A systematic study on newly produced and used photocathodes was conducted in order to correlate the surface composition to the photoemissive properties

The photo-injector option for CLIC: past experiments and future developments

The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) drive beam requires a long bunch train (92 us) consisting of 42880 bunches with a bunch charge of 17.5 nC in a bunch length of less than 20 ps. This train might be produced by an RF-photo-injector equipped with a Cs-Te cathode. After a short review of experience with such cathodes in the present CLIC Test Facility (CTF2), mainly focused on the production of short trains of high-charge bunches, we will present the scheme foreseen for CLIC and CTF3. The laser will be a diode-pumped MOPA (Master Oscillator Power Amplifier), operating at a repetition rate of 469 MHz for CLIC and 1.5 GHz for CTF3. The specific requirements of an RF-gun for this high-current operation are discussed. New experimental results on the photocathode lifetime at high average current are summarized

The transverse and longitudinal beam characteristics of the phin photo-injector at Cern

International audienceThe laser driven RF photo-injectors are recent candidates for high-brightness, low-emittance electron sources. One of the main beam dynamics issues for a high brightness electron source is the optimization of beam envelope be- havior in the presence of the space charge force in order to get low emittance. Within the framework of the second Joint Research Activity PHIN of the European CARE pro- gram, a new photo-injector for CTF3 has been designed and installed by collaboration between LAL, CCLRC and CERN. Beam based measurements have been made dur- ing the commissioning runs of the PHIN 2008 and 2009 including measurements of the emittance, using multi-slit technique. The demonstration of the high charge and the stability along the long pulse train are between the goals of this photo-injector study as also being important issues for CTF3 and the CLIC drive beam. In this work the photo-injector will be described and the first beam mea- surement results will be presented and compared with the PARMELA simulations

The electron accelerator for the AWAKE experiment at CERN

The AWAKE collaboration prepares a proton driven plasma wakefield acceleration experiment using the SPS beam at CERN. A long proton bunch extracted from the SPS interacts with a high power laser and a 10 m long rubidium vapour plasma cell to create strong wakefields allowing sustained electron acceleration. The electron bunch to probe these wakefields is supplied by a 20 MeV electron accelerator. The electron accelerator consists of an RF-gun and a short booster structure. This electron source should provide beams with intensities between 0.1 and 1 nC, bunch lengths between 0.3 and 3 ps and an emittance of the order of 2 mm mrad. The wide range of parameters should cope with the uncertainties and future prospects of the planned experiments. The layout of the electron accelerator, its instrumentation and beam dynamics simulations are presented

OTR FROM NON-RELATIVISTIC ELECTRONS

Abstract OTR EMISSION FROM NON RELATIVISTIC ELECTRONS The CLIC Test Facility 3 (CTF3) injector will provide pulsed beams of high average current; 5A over 1.56µs at 140keV. For transverse beam sizes of the order of 1mm, as foreseen, this implies serious damage to the commonly used scintillating screens. Optical Transition Radiation from thermally resistant radiators represents a possible alternative. In this context, the backward OTR radiation emitted from an aluminium screen by a 80keV, 60nC, 4ns electron pulse has been investigated. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical expectations, indicating a feeble light intensity distributed over a large solid angle. Our conclusions for the design of the CTF3 injector profile monitor are also given. We consider the transition between the vacuum and a material with a relative permittivity ε. The screen is tilted with respect to the beam trajectory ( z r ) by an angle ψ, as shown in figure 1. The OTR emission results from the contribution of the direct ( n r ), the reflected ( ' n r ) and the refracted ( ' n' r ) radiations emitted by the particle. Usin

Epidermis recreation in spongy-like hydrogels: New opportunities to explore epidermis-like analogues

[Excerpt] On the road to successfully achieving skin regeneration, 3D matrices/scaffolds that provide the adequate physico-chemical and biological cues to recreate the ideal healing environment are believed to be a key element [1], [2] and [3]. Numerous polymeric matrices derived from both natural [4] and [5] and synthetic [6], [7] and [8] sources have been used as cellular supports; nowadays, fewer matrices are simple carriers, and more and more are ECM analogues that can actively participate in the healing process. Therefore, the attractive characteristics of hydrogels, such as high water content, tunable elasticity and facilitated mass transportation, have made them excellent materials to mimic cells’ native environment [9]. Moreover, their hygroscopic nature [10] and possibility of attaining soft tissues-like mechanical properties mean they have potential for exploitation as wound healing promoters [11], [12], [13] and [14]. Nonetheless, hydrogels lack natural cell adhesion sites [15], which limits the maximization of their potential in the recreation of the cell niche. This issue has been tackled through the use of a range of sophisticated approaches to decorate the hydrogels with adhesion sequences such as arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) derived from fibronectin [16], [17] and [18], and tyrosine-isoleucine-glycine-serine-arginine (YIGSR) derived from laminin [18] and [19], which not only aim to modulate cell adhesion, but also influencing cell fate and survival [18]. Nonetheless, its widespread use is still limited by significant costs associated with the use of recombinant bioactive molecules