This contribution describes the latest milestones of a multiyear program to build and operate a compact −300 kV dc high voltage photogun with inverted insulator geometry and alkali-antimonide photocathodes. Photocathode thermal emittance measurements and quantum efficiency charge lifetime measurements at average current up to 4.5 mA are presented, as well as an innovative implementation of ion generation and tracking simulations to explain the benefits of a biased anode to repel beam line ions from the anodecathode gap, to dramatically improve the operating lifetime of the photogun and eliminate the occurrence of micro-arc discharges.

In this work, the preliminary design of an electron Linear Particle Accelerator (eLINAC) capable of delivering a beam with an energy range of 5 to 100 MeV using the S-band acceleration frequency is presented. At its peak energy, it can be used as an injector for a synchrotron light source, as an independent free electron laser, or to generate neutrons. The eLINAC will be separated into three beam lines to deliver electron beams at different energies permitting the possibility of industrial applications such as food irradiation, medical use, and national security.

To improve the beam brightness produced by a Source of Negative Ions by Cesium Sputtering we studied the beam generation in the 12~MeV Vandergraff linear accelerator at Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares. Results of 3D particle tracking simulations of the ion source and beamline have been compared with measurements, with better agreement than traditional codes that only take into account the negative beam, and they determine a suppression in the Cs$^{+}$ production due to space charge, which in turn explains the intensity limits for negative beam production in both ionizers, and the best way to overpass them. Also, the beam dynamics variation due to the erosion of the target inside the cathode has been determined, helping to prevent beam losses and enhance the beam brightness.