Multiwavelengths Optical Diagnostic during Cs₂Te Photocathodes Deposition

The production of Cs₂Te photoemissive films used as laser driven electron sources in the high brightness photoinjectors at FLASH and PITZ, is a well established activity at INFN Milano since the ’90s. Our total production is of more than 100 photocathodes, with an average QE of 8% (@ 254 nm) for fresh films and an operative lifetime that increased up to some months at FLASH. In the last two years, we have improved the standard diagnostic used during the cathode growth to better understand the material properties of the films. This activity is motivated by the need to improve the photocathode properties, mainly the energy distribution of the photoemitted electrons that influences the thermal emittance. The multiwavelengths diagnostic, i.e. the on-line measurements of the photocurrent and reflectivity from the film during its growth in the 239 nm ~ 436 nm range, has been deeply applied on several cathodes and the potentiality of this technique are discussed in this paper.
Proceedings of the 1st International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2010, Kyoto, Japan