DEVELOPMENTS OF A HIGH-AVERAGE-CURRENT THERMIONIC RF GUN FOR ERLS AND FELS*

The development of a high-average-current thermionic RF gun with the required beam performance for lasing would provide significant cost of ownership and reliability gains for high-average-power energy recovery linac (ERL) and free electron laser (FEL) devices. The beam for these applications requires high quality and high performance, specifically: low transverse emittance, short pulse duration and high average current. We are developing a gridded thermionic cathode embedded in a copper one-and-half cell UHF cavity to generate the electron beam. The fundamental RF and higher harmonics are combined on the grid and a gated DC voltage controls the beam emission from the cathode. Simulations indicate that short pulse ~ 10 psec, < 1 MeV electron beams with low-emittance ~ 15 mm-mrad at currents �˚ 100 mA can be generated. The elimination of sensitive photocathodes and their drive laser systems would provide significant capital cost saving, improved reliability and uptime due to increased robustness and hence operating and lifecycle cost savings as well. We will present the gun design and performance simulations and the progress achieved to date in optimizing the device.