• F. Le Pimpec, B. Beutner, H.-H. Braun, R. Ganter, C.H. Gough, C.P. Hauri, R. Ischebeck, S. Ivkovic, K.B. Li, M. Paraliev, M. Pedrozzi, T. Schietinger, B. Steffen, A. Trisorio
  PSI, Villigen

In the framework of the SwissFEL project, an alternative electron source to an RF photo-gun was investigated. It consists of a high voltage (up to 500 kV), high gradient pulsed diode system followed by single stage RF acceleration at 1.5 GHz. The electrons are produced from photo-cathodes or from field emitter arrays. The final goal of this accelerator is to produce a 200 pC electron beam with a projected normalized emittance below 0.4 mm.mrad and a bunch length of less than 10 ps. We present comparisons between beam dynamic simulations and measurements, as well as thermal emittance and quantum efficiency (QE) measurements obtained by producing photo-electrons from various metal cathodes.