Performance Characterisation at Daresbury Laboratory of Cs-Te Photocathodes Grown at CERN

The search for high-performance photocathodes is a priority in the field of particle accelerators. The surface characteristics of a photocathode affect many important factors of the photoemission process including the photoemission threshold, the intrinsic emittance and the quantum efficiency. These factors in turn define the electron beam quality, which is measurable using figures of merit like beam emittance, brightness and energy spread. We present characterisation measurements for four caesium telluride photocathodes synthesized at CERN. The photocathodes were transported under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) and analysed at STFC Daresbury Laboratory, using ASTeC’s Multiprobe (SAPI)* for surface characterisation via XPS and STM, and for Mean Transverse Energy (MTE) measurements using the Transverse Energy Spread Spectrometer (TESS)**. The MTE measurements were estimated at cryogenic and room temperatures based on the respective transverse energy distribution curves. We discuss correlations found between the synthesis parameters, and the measured surface characteristics and MTE values.