IPAC'26 - the 17th International Particle Accelerator Conference

An ultra-high brightness cryogenic C-band RF gun for ultra-fast electron diffraction applications

Not scheduled

20m

C.I.D

Contributed Oral Presentation MC7.T06: Normal Conducting RF

Speaker

Chad Pennington (University of California, Los Angeles)

Description

The electron source at the MOTHRA beamline is a novel 0.5-cell cryogenic C-band photoinjector designed to operate at gradients up to 200 MV/m. This work reports on recent developments toward implementing a load lock and modular cathode backplane that enables the insertion and testing of next-generation photocathode materials and structures under high-field, cryogenic operating conditions. The combination of a high launch field, low intrinsic emittance cathodes, and cryogenic temperatures is expected to significantly increase the achievable beam brightness. We present the current design status, experimental progress, and performance measurements of the cryogenic photoinjector with the modified backplane. In addition, we discuss beam-dynamics optimization for operating the source in an ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) configuration, where the high gradient and low intrinsic emittance offer a promising pathway to MeV-scale UED with exceptional brightness and temporal resolution.