Characterization of the electron source at the photo injector test facility at DESY Zeuthen

The Photo Injector Test Facility at DESY Zeuthen (PITZ) was built to test and optimize electron sources for Free Electron Lasers and future linear colliders. The focus is on the production of intense electron beams with minimum transverse emittance and short bunch length as required for FEL operation. The experimental setup includes a 1.5 cell L-band gun cavity with coaxial RF coupler, a solenoid for space charge compensation, a laser capable to generate long pulse trains with variable temporal and spatial pulse shape, an UHV photo cathode exchange system, and an extensive diagnostics section. This contribution will give an overview on the facility and will mainly discuss the measurements of the electron beam transverse phase space. This will include measurements of the transverse and longitudinal laser profile, beam charge as a function of RF phase, and transverse emittance as a function of different parameters. The corresponding measurements of momentum and momentum spread as well as the RF commissioning results will be summarized. As a first application of the PITZ electron source it will be installed at the TESLA Test Facility Free Electron Laser at DESY Hamburg in autumn 2003.