Effect of Cs adsorption on the photoemission performance of GaAlAs photocathode

The effect of Cs adsorption on the photoemission performance of a reflection-mode GaAlAs photocathode in an ultrahigh vacuum chamber has been investigated. The experiments for Cs/O activation, multiple recaesiation, and degradation are performed on a GaAlAs photocathode. Meanwhile, the Cs/O activated and recaesiated photocurrent curves, degraded photocurrent curves, and spectral response curves are measured and analyzed. Besides, the performance parameters of the photocathodes are obtained by using the formula to fit with the experimental quantum efficiency curves. The results show that the Cs atoms not only make the atomically clean surface form the negative electron affinity, but also make the degraded photocathode recover to a good level. The quantum efficiency and the lifetime of GaAlAs photocathode become lower with increasing the recaesiation times.