• M. Borland, B. Brajuskovic, R.R. Lindberg, N. Sereno
  ANL, Argonne

The proposed injector design for the X-ray Free Electron Laser Oscillator* uses a 100 MHz thermionic rf gun in order to obtain beams with very small emittances at high repetition rates**. The required beam rate is only 1 to 10 MHz, so 90 to 99\% of the beam must be dumped. In addition, back-bombardment of the cathode is a significant concern. To address these issues, we propose using a laser to quickly heat the surface of a cathode in order to achieve gated thermionic emission in an rf gun. This may be preferrable to a photocathode in some cases owing to the robustness of thermionic cathodes and the ability to use a relatively simple laser system. We present calculations of this process using analysis and simulation. We also discuss potential pitfalls such as cathode damage.

*K. J. Kim et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 244802 (2008).
**P. N. Ostroumov et al., Proc. Linac08, 676-678.