In recent years, Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) type photocathodes have become
widely used as electron sources in modern Energy Recovery Linac based light
sources such as the Accelerators and Lasers in Combined Experiments (ALICE) at
Daresbury Laboratory and as polarised electron source for the proposed
International Linear Collider (ILC). Once activated to a Low Electron Affinity
(LEA) state and illuminated by a laser, these materials can be used as a
high-brightness source of both polarised and un-polarised electrons. This paper
presents an effective multi-stage preparation procedure including heat
cleaning, atomic hydrogen cleaning and the activation process for a GaAs
photocathode. The stability of quantum efficiency (QE) and lifetime of
activated to LEA state GaAs photocathode have been studied in the ALICE
load-lock photocathode preparation facility which has a base pressure in the
order of 10^-11 mbar. These studies are supported by further experimental
evidence from surface science techniques such as X-ray Photoelectron
Spectroscopy (XPS) to demonstrate the processes at the atomic level.Comment: Presented at First International Particle Accelerator Conference,
IPAC'10, Kyoto, Japan, from 23 to 28 May 201
