Active bialkali photocathodes on free-standing graphene substrates
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- PHOTONIS USA Pennsylvania Inc., Lancaster, PA (United States)
- U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD (United States)
- Naval Research Lab., Washington, D.C. (United States)
- Naval Research Lab., Washington, D.C. (United States); U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD (United States)
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Univ. of Louisville, Louisville, KY (United States)
Here, the hexagonal structure of graphene gives rise to the property of gas impermeability, motivating its investigation for a new application: protection of semiconductor photocathodes in electron accelerators. These materials are extremely susceptible to degradation in efficiency through multiple mechanisms related to contamination from the local imperfect vacuum environment of the host photoinjector. Few-layer graphene has been predicted to permit a modified photoemission response of protected photocathode surfaces, and recent experiments of single-layer graphene on copper have begun to confirm these predictions for single crystal metallic photocathodes. Unlike metallic photoemitters, the integration of an ultra-thin graphene barrier film with conventional semiconductor photocathode growth processes is not straightforward. A first step toward addressing this challenge is the growth and characterization of technologically relevant, high quantum efficiency bialkali photocathodes on ultra-thin free-standing graphene substrates. Photocathode growth on free-standing graphene provides the opportunity to integrate these two materials and study their interaction. Specifically, spectral response features and photoemission stability of cathodes grown on graphene substrates are compared to those deposited on established substrates. In addition, we observed an increase of work function for the graphene encapsulated bialkali photocathode surfaces, which is predicted by our calculations. The results provide a unique demonstration of bialkali photocathodes on free-standing substrates, and indicate promise towards our goal of fabricating high-performance graphene encapsulated photocathodes with enhanced lifetime for accelerator applications.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1372802
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-17-25087
- Journal Information:
- npj 2D Materials and Applications, Vol. 1, Issue 1; ISSN 2397-7132
- Publisher:
- Springer NatureCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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