Alkali-antimonide photocathodes were grown on Si(100) and studied by means of XPS and UHV-AFM to validate the growth procedure and morphology of this material. The elements were evaporated sequentially at elevated substrate temperatures (first Sb, second K, third Cs). The generated intermediate K-Sb compound itself is a photocathode and the composition of K2.4Sb is close to the favored K3Sb stoichiometry. After cesium deposition, the surface layer is cesium enriched. The determined rms roughness of 25 nm results in a roughness domination of the emittance in the photoinjector already above 3 MV/m

Alkali antimonides have a long history as visible-light-sensitive photocathodes. This work focuses on the process of fabrication of the bi-alkali photocathodes, K2CsSb. In-situ synchrotron x-ray diffraction and photoresponse measurements were used to monitor phase evolution during sequential photocathode growth mode on Si(100) substrates. The amorphous-to-crystalline transition for the initial antimony layer was observed at a film thickness of 40 Å . The antimony crystalline structure dissolved upon potassium deposition, eventually recrystallizing upon further deposition into K-Sb crystalline modifications. This transition, as well as the conversion of potassium antimonide to K2CsSb upon cesium deposition, is correlated with changes in the quantum efficiency.

Bi-alkali antimonide photocathodes are the best known sources of electrons for high current and/or high bunch charge applications like Energy Recovery Linacs or Free Electron Lasers.Despite their high quantum efficiency in visible light and low intrinsic emittance, the surface roughness of these photocathodes prohibits their use as low emittance cathodes in high accelerating gradient superconducting and normal conducting radio frequency photoguns and limits the minimum possible intrinsic emittance near the threshold. Also, the growth process for these materials is largely based on recipes obtained by trial and error and is very unreliable. In this paper, using X-ray diffraction, we investigate the different structural and chemical changes that take place during the growth process of the bi-alkali antimonide material K 2 CsSb.Our measurements give us a deeper understanding of the growth process of alkaliantimonide photocathodes allowing us to optimize it with the goal of minimizing the surface roughness to preserve the intrinsic emittance at high electric fields and increasing its reproducibility.

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Goethite is a major iron-bearing sedimentary mineral on Earth. In this study, we conducted in situ high-pressure x-ray diffraction, Raman, and electrical impedance spectroscopy measurements of goethite using a diamond anvil cell (DAC) at room temperature and high pressures up to 32 GPa. We observed feature changes in both the Raman spectra and electrical resistance at about 5 and 11 GPa. However, the x-ray diffraction patterns show no structural phase transition in the entire pressure range of the study. The derived pressure-volume (P-V) data show a smooth compression curve with no clear evidence of any second-order phase transition. Fitting the volumetric data to the second-order Birch–Murnaghan equation of state yields V0 = 138.9 ± 0.5 Å3 and K0 = 126 ± 5 GPa.