• B.L. Militsyn, B.D. Fell, L.B. Jones, J.W. McKenzie, K.J. Middleman
  STFC/DL/ASTeC, Daresbury, Warrington, Cheshire
• I. Burrows, R.J. Cash
  STFC/DL, Daresbury, Warrington, Cheshire
• H.E. Scheibler, A.S. Terekhov
  ISP, Novosibirsk

ALICE is an Energy Recovery Linac built at STFC Daresbury Laboratory to investigate the process of energy recovery. The project is an accelerator research facility intended to develop the technology and expertise required to build a New Light Source (NLS) in the UK based on a suite of Free-Electron Lasers. Currently the ALICE gun accommodates only a single photocathode at any one time, and the system must be vented to atmospheric pressure for photocathode replacement. To meet the stringent vacuum demands for good photocathode lifetime, the system then requires baking for up to three weeks. A new load-lock cathode preparation system has been designed as an upgrade to the ALICE gun. The load-lock can accommodate up to six photocathodes, and permits rapid transfer of photocathodes between the load-lock activation chamber and the gun, thus maintaining the vacuum. The photocathode preparation facility was successfully commissioned in spring 2009, and has since permitted a quantum yield of 15% to be achieved at a wavelength of 635 nm. Presently, a new gun vessel and photocathode transport system is under manufacture, with a view to this being fully-installed on ALICE in Spring 2012.