Speaker
Alan Todd
(Advanced Energy Systems)
Description
Bright, RF photocathode electron guns are the source of choice for most high-performance research accelerator applications. Some of these applications are pushing the performance boundaries of present state-of-the-art guns. A fully axisymmetric radiofrequency electron gun with an upstream power feed has been developed. The present device shows excellent promise in extending the performance of high-brightness sources. Simulations show that it easily breaks the benchmark emittance of one micron for 1 nC of bunch charge when followed by only a short booster accelerator. The pulse length in these simulations is less than 2 ps. While beam testing has not been possible to date, high power RF testing has been performed at a frequency of 11.43GHz using the magnicon facility at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). The successful testing proved out the basic design features of the gun with the achievement of a peak cathode accelerating field of 240MV/m. The simulated electron beam performance details will be presented along with the overall design of the gun and the results of the high power RF testing. The same geometry would also lend itself to thermionic applications.
