Development Of A Laser Photocathode For Use In Wake-Field Acceleration And Compact Accelerator Design Studies

A back-illuminating short-pulse photocathode using Cs2Sb films for use in a 45-MeV electron linac at the University of Texas at Arlington i under development. The photocathode is designed for an optimum simplicity without requiring an in-situ cathode preparation procedure and to achieve a sufficiently high current density for use in an wake-field acceleration test currently underway. Preliminary tests performed at 6 kV/cm indi1cates that a current of 2.5 mA/cm was satisfactorily achieved at a modest vacuum of 10 torr. However, fatigue effects were observed after a short period of operation in this test. Concurrently, a front-illumination metal photocathodes is also investigated for use in the wake-field test facility. Improvements and refinements are still in progress.