The Next Generation Photoinjector

After two decades of development, photoinjector technology has achieved significant success in providing ultra-high quality electron beams to advanced accelerator facilities and light sources. However, obtaining a state of the art performance from the photoinjector, is still more of an art than science. There is a growing market demand for reliable, performant, and turn-key photo- injectors solutions to be offered in the industrial setting to the users community. In addition, users are ever in need of improvements in brightness. This project seeks to address this problem by developing Next Generation Photoinjector (NGP), which builds upon the experience of recent years, and adapts the best technical solutions from the LCLS injector design, RadiaBeam FERMI photoinjector, as well as new ideas on using higher harmonics to obtain ultra-high peak field on a cathode, while evading structure breakdown. The NGP will be a cost optimized and robust solution offered as a standard product with unsurpassed performance characteristics at a moderate price. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The primary applications targeted by the proposed Next Generation Photoinjector (NGP) system are e-beam generation for advanced accelerator facilities and free electron lasers. Due to the cost optimization efforts, the NGP will also be available to the customers with constrained budgets; to novel emerging applications such as ultra-fast electron diffraction; and also to the research centers in developing countries presently priced out of the photo-injectors market. Finally, the NGP will be an attractive offering as a source for industrial accelerators applications presently served by more reliable but less capable thermionic injectors.