Experimental investigation of an optimum configuration for a high-voltage photoemission gun for operation at 500 kV

Nishimori, Nobuyuki; Nagai, Ryoji; Matsuba, Shunya; Hajima, Ryoichi; Yamamoto, Masahiro*; Honda, Yosuke*; Miyajima, Tsukasa*; Iijima, Hokuto*; Kuriki, Masao*; Kuwahara, Makoto*

We have demonstrated generation of a 500-keV electron beam from a high DC voltage photoemission gun for an energy recovery linac light source. This demonstration was achieved by addressing two discharge problems that lead to vacuum breakdown of the DC gun. One is field emission generated from a central stem electrode. The other is microdischarge at an anode electrode or a vacuum chamber, which is triggered by microparticle transfer or field emission from a cathode electrode. An experimental investigation has revealed that larger acceleration gap optimized to mainly reduce surface electric field of anode electrode results in suppression of the microdischarge events which accompany gas desorption. It has also been found that non evaporable getter pumps placed around the acceleration gap greatly help suppress those microdischarge events. The applied voltage as a function of the total gas desorption is shown to be a good measure to find the optimum DC gun configuration.