| Paper | Title | Page |
|---|---|---|
| MOPFI069 | Preparation of the Polycrystalline Copper Photocathodes for the VELA RF Photocathode Gun | 440 |
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| The Electron Beam Test Facility (EBTF) is a high performance electron source under commissioning at ASTeC. The photoinjector of the source is based on a S-band photocathode RF gun operating with a copper photocathode which is driven by a third harmonic of Ti: Sapphire laser (266 nm). The photocathode used in the RF gun is an integrated part of the gun cavity which is polycrystalline copper disk, polished to 1um roughness, and is placed at the back wall of the first 0.5 cell in the gun cavity. In order to accomplish a procedure to activate surface prior installation, copper test samples with roughness of 0.1 um were prepared by different techniques. The best results have been obtained by ex-situ plasma cleaning in an oxygen atmosphere. Analyses showed that there was no carbon on the surface and the surface was composed of copper oxide. After heating the sample in-situ to 220 C for almost all the surface oxide was removed. For this surface a QE of 2 x10-5 was measured. Further heating to higher temperature did not result in any improvement either in surface composition nor a noticeable increase in QE. Prepared such a way operational photocathode is now under commissioning in the gun. | ||