High-power Beam Test of the Photocathode RF Gun at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory

Abstract

A 1.6-cell S-band photocathode rf gun has been fabricated and tested at the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL). In this photocathode rf gun, the structure of the cathode assembly and the tuning methods have been changed to improve the performance of the rf gun. The maximum beam energy achieved is up to 5.2 MeV. The rf conditioning of the gun was done well, so that the dark current was not measurable until the electric field at the cathode reached 110 MV/m. Experimental measurements are presented and compared with theoretical analyses.