Reducing the contribution of the photoemission process to the unwanted beam in photoelectron sources at accelerators

Negative electron affinity (NEA) GaAs photocathodes show different pulse responses depending on the wavelength of photoexcitation. The pulse response at 800 nm shows a long and relatively intense tail, whereas at 400 nm, a tail of similar shape but with an intensity lower by around two orders of magnitude is observed. We explain this behavior with the specific properties of NEA photocathodes and compare it with the response of a positive electron affinity photocathode.