Future Directions in Electron Sources

The emittance-compensated rf photoinjector is in the process of evolving from an experiment in and of itself, to a laboratory instrument, to a workhorse component of large user facilities such as next-generation light sources. In recent years the performance achieved by the standard π-mode design has approached the levels predicted by theory and simulation. The basic design has been scaled from X-band down to less than 1 GHz in terms of operating frequency, and superconducting designs are presently undergoing initial testing at various locations. The requirements for linac-based light sources will require at least one order of magnitude improvement in beam quality; other applications, such as electron microscopes or high-energy electron lithography, require still greater improvements. The migration towards fully superconducting accelerators provides some additional design challenges. This paper briefly presents requirements for some future applications, and presents four new approaches to extending injector performance: the diamond-emitter photocathode, the planar focusing cathode, the magnetic-mode emittance compensation technique, and the field-emission-gated cathode.