A Biased Anode to Suppress Ion Back‐Bombardment in a DC High Voltage Photoelectron Gun

Ion back‐bombardment is the dominant mechanism that limits the operating lifetime of DC high voltage GaAs photoelectron guns. In this work, an electrically isolated anode electrode was used to distinguish the QE damage contributions of ions produced within the cathode/anode gap and those produced downstream of the anode. This new anode design provides a means to suppress QE decay due to ionized gas in the beam line.