Linear-accelerator-based applications like x-ray free electron lasers, ultrafast electron diffraction, electron beam cooling, and energy recovery linacs use photoemission-based cathodes in photoinjectors for electron sources. Most of these photocathodes are typically grown as polycrystalline materials with disordered surfaces. In order to understand the mechanism of photoemission from such cathodes and completely exploit their photoemissive properties, it is important to develop a photoemission formalism that properly describes the subtleties of these cathodes. The Dowell–Schmerge (D–S) model often used to describe the properties of such cathodes gives the correct trends for photoemission properties like the quantum efficiency (QE) and the mean transverse energy (MTE) for metals; however, it is based on several unphysical assumptions. In the present work, we use Spicer’s three-step photoemission formalism to develop a photoemission model that results in the same trends for QE and MTE as the D–S model without the need for any unphysical assumptions and is applicable to defective thin-film semiconductor cathodes along with metal cathodes. As an example, we apply our model to CsSb thin films and show that their near-threshold QE and MTE performance is largely explained by the exponentially decaying defect density of states near the valence band maximum.
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7 February 2023
Research Article|
February 06 2023
Theory of photoemission from cathodes with disordered surfaces
Pallavi Saha
;
Pallavi Saha
a)
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
1
Department of Physics, Arizona State University
, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
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Oksana Chubenko
;
Oksana Chubenko
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing)
2
Department of Physics, Northern Illinois University
, DeKalb, Illinois 60115, USA
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J. Kevin Nangoi
;
J. Kevin Nangoi
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing)
3
Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Department of Physics, Cornell University
, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
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Tomas Arias
;
Tomas Arias
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing)
3
Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Department of Physics, Cornell University
, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
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Eric Montgomery
;
Eric Montgomery
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing)
4
Euclid Beamlabs, LLC
, Bolingbrook, Illinois 60440, USA
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Shashi Poddar
;
Shashi Poddar
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing)
4
Euclid Beamlabs, LLC
, Bolingbrook, Illinois 60440, USA
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Howard A. Padmore
;
Howard A. Padmore
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing)
5
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
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Siddharth Karkare
Siddharth Karkare
a)
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
1
Department of Physics, Arizona State University
, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
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J. Appl. Phys. 133, 053102 (2023)
Article history
Received:
November 21 2022
Accepted:
January 19 2023
Connected Content
A correction has been published:
Erratum: “Theory of photoemission from cathodes with disordered surfaces” [J. Appl. Phys. 133, 053102 (2023)]
Citation
Pallavi Saha, Oksana Chubenko, J. Kevin Nangoi, Tomas Arias, Eric Montgomery, Shashi Poddar, Howard A. Padmore, Siddharth Karkare; Theory of photoemission from cathodes with disordered surfaces. J. Appl. Phys. 7 February 2023; 133 (5): 053102. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0135629
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