Non-conservation of the charge lifetime at high average current R.Barday University Mainz, Germany INFN Milano-LASA 4-6 October 2006

Many accelerator facilities use GaAs photocathodes to produce a) polarized electron beam: SLAC, CEBAF, MIT-Bates, ELSA, MAMI I aver ~100  A, high polarization b) unpolarized electron beam for Light Sources: JLab FEL, Cornell ERL I aver ~10 mA, no polarization With new projects such as EIC or antiprotonpolarization, increase the demant of much higher average current of polarized electron beam. I aver ~(10-100) mA

Photoemission from GaAs bare GaAs: emission is not possiblep-dopped GaAs+(Cs+O 2 ): emission is possible GaAs photocathode is activated by exposure of the monolayer of caesium and an oxidant to the clean semiconductor surface. 1) Exciting of electrons from the VB to the CB with circularly polarized light 2) Lowering of the work function with Caesium and an oxidant (O 2, NF 3 )

During operation at low average current we found out two lifetime limitations: 1) Chemical poisoning of the photocathode surface by residual gas. Oxidizing gas species as H 2 O, O 2 and CO 2 decrease QE drastically. H 2, CH 4 or CO do not affect the Cs/O activation layer. Chemical poisoning degrades the cathode QE uniformly 2)Ion back-bombardement. Residual gas molecules are ionized by electrons and are accelerated towards the photocathode, causing photocathode damage. This effect is proportional to pressure and to the average current. Ion back-bombardment degrades the cathode QE between the illuminated laserspot and the electrostatical centre. The lifetime of the GaAs photocathode is a major issue, because of high sensivity to the vacuum environment.

We assume that all processes destroying Cs/O layer act parallel and independently. The goal of our experiments is to explore, how relevant our lifetime measurement is at low average current for operation at mA average current, i.e. whether the charge lifetime  I is inversely proportional to the beam current (  i *I=const?). Lifetime operation under different operation conditions  Neut no operationResidual gas  FE high voltage is on 1+field emission II beam current(1+2)+additional back streaming+ additional ion back bombardement At high average current 1/  I >>1/  Neut +1/  FE and  ~  I

Polarized electron source

Water-cooled Faraday cup with NEG Polarized electron source

GaAs Photocathode DopantZink Orientation100 Thickness,  m 350 Carrier concentration, cm -3 2*10 19 Polarization, % (at =808 nm) 25 QE, % (at =808 nm) 3 WAFER TECHNOLOGY LTD. 1) a lot of cheaper 2) similar operating conditions to highly polarized photocathode

Fiber Array Package (FAP) Laser Power, W15 Wavelength, nm808 (fixed) Pulse length, ms Frequency, Hz100 Beam divergence, N.A VERDI: Power 5 W, =532 nm

Optical excitation process For low energy E G <h <E  +  all excited electrons are thermalized into the  -minima. For higher photon energy the electrons are thermalized into the L- minima. For photon energy above 1.9 eV the electrons are scattered into the vicinity of the X-CB minima and thermalized there. Lifetime of polarized and unpolarized Electron Beam. The hotter photoelectrons will be less sensitive to change in the work function.

E red ~1.53 eV (polarization) E green ~2.33 eV (no polarization) A low energy cutoff for cold electrons due to the rise of the vacuum level. Lifetime of polarized and unpolarized Electron Beam. The lifetime at 532 nm is at least factor 4 better than at 808 nm.

Cathode heating In order to achieve mA beam current, the laser power should be increased up to several tens (hundreds) mW. Most of the applied energy (~70%) will be absorbed in the GaAs photocathode, causing heating of the photocathode. What happens at high temperature? 1)Decompasition of the Caesium-Oxide activation layer at high temperature 2)Thermally induced chemical reaction 3)The energy gap decreases with increasing temperature, which increases the escape probability of the electrons in the vacuum: T( 0 K) E g (eV) 01, , ,4 Non-linear effects

Non-linear effects Cathode heating Photocathode vacuum lifetime normalized to the vacuum lifetime at the laser power 23 mW. We are here at I=1mA (QE=20mA/W)

Cathode heating GaAs photocathode in holder The temperature was measured by a photoluminescence technique. The thermal coefficient is about 0.4 K/mW. Non-linear effects To ensure a operation of the electron gun with high average current (strong laser illumination), cooling of the GaAs photocathode is required!!! For example TSR 10K/W 0.4K/mW*100mW=40K

Ion trapping Non-linear effects The electron beam collides with residual gas molecules are producing positive ions. A negatively charged electron beam can capture positive ions, if the potential well is higher as the energy of ions. The electrostatic potential of the electron beam with radius a and a uniform charge density which propagate in a vacuum tube of radius r 0 : Potential well for different beam current. E e =60 kV, beam diameter 4 mm.

Ion trapping leads to an increased flow of ions towards the photocathode. But it is possible to remove these ions from the gun by suppressing the ion flow with a repeller behind the anode of the gun at a positive potential. Non-linear effects Ion trapping U=+65V U=-65V

An increase of relative transmission loss caused by space charge forces at high average current Non-linear effects ESD can lead to vacuum degradation during operation with beam. Important issue for obtaining sufficient long lifetime is the precise control of electrons which leave cathode. A beam loss of 4  A located 1 m from the source limits the lifetime to 3 hours. At 10 mA average current: 4  A/10mA=4*10 -4 !!!

An increase of relative transmission loss caused by space charge forces at high average current Non-linear effects Beam loss: 1)between gun and  -magnet: <10 -7 (was measured at 2,5 mA)  -magnet: ~10 -6 at 1 mA d laser =2.1mm d beamline =(28-38)mm

Linear effect Backstream gases from the beam dump The basic pressure inside the Faraday cup itself is 6* mbar (which was measured with vacuum gage). The Faraday cup is located 2.5 m from the gun. The gun vacuum is isolated from the vacuum in the beam dump by differential pumping, BUT gases can reach the photocathode from higher pressure regions (Beam Dump). An increase of the pressure at Faraday cup of the order of mbar/mA is observed. Our photocathode lifetime is almost completely dominated by neutral molecules (from the beam dump) and not by ion back bombardement.

Non-linear effects We made three observations which can tend to a not proportional to the electron current decrease of lifetime. 1)Thermal heating of the photocathode. (not yet) 2)Ion trapping in the beam line. (yes) 3)Increase of relative transmission loses caused by the space charge forces at high current. (is under control) 4)Backstream gases from the Faraday cup (soon) Cleaning of the Faraday cup is „slow“. Solution: cleaning with thermal cathode. Our experiments reveal that nonlinear effects exist.

New projects require electron beam with average current of (10-100) mA and peak current of order (1-10) A. The feasible way to attain so high current is through beam recirculation. Advantages: 1) Dissipated Energy is lower 2) ESD is lower 3) High Voltage Supply Beam Collector

Beam Collector Charge saturation Charge accumulation at the surface of the photocathode.

Beam Collector In order to overcome charge saturation problem, two conditions should be satisfied: 1)high escape probability of electrons through the potential barrier (high NEA (QE)) 2)high probability of holes to overcome the surface band bending region. The thickness of the BBR: (heavily p-doped) Charge saturation

Beam Collector Cathode peak photocurrent vs. laser power with laser spot size 2.1 mm. The cathode was biased at -60 kV. Dopant concentration 2*10 19 cm -3. Current density is presently limited to 1.6 A/cm mA in 100  s long pulses at 100 Hz repetition rate. Q=5.7  C per Impulse emitted area  *(1.05mm) 2 ~3.5 mm 2 hole concentration 2*10 19 cm -3 Charge saturation

Summary We made four observations which can tend to decrease of lifetime. 1)Ion trapping in the beam line. 2)Increase of relative transmission loses caused by the space charge forces at high current. 3)Backstreamgases from the Faraday cup. 4)Thermal heating of the photocathode. Our experiments reveal that nonlinear effects exist, but it is possible to keep them under control. We have already demonstrated 11.4 mA average current of polarized electron beam and 57 mA in 100  s peak current (charge 5.7  C, current density 1.6 A/cm 2 ).