New spin-polarized electron source based on alkali-antimonide photocathode

Abstract

New spin-dependent photoemission properties of alkali antimonide semiconductor cathodes are predicted based on the detected optical spin orientation effect and DFT band structure calculations. Using these results, the Na${}_2$KSb/Cs${}_3$Sb heterostructure is designed as a spin-polarized electron source in combination with the Al${}_{0.11}$Ga${}_{0.89}$As target as a spin-detector with spatial resolution. In the Na${}_2$KSb/Cs${}_3$Sb photocathode, spin-dependent photoemission properties were established through detection of high degree of photoluminescence polarization and high polarization of the photoemitted electrons. It was found that the multi-alkali photocathode can provide electron beams with emittance very close to the limits imposed by the electron thermal energy. The vacuum tablet-type sources of spin-polarized electrons have been proposed for accelerators, that can exclude the construction of the photocathode growth chambers for photoinjectors.

9 pages, 7 figures

References in corpus (5)

• An approximation to density functional theory for an accurate calculation of band-gaps of semiconductors
• Near atomically smooth alkali antimonide photocathode thin films
• Performance of Large Area Picosecond Photo-Detectors (LAPPD)
• A single-crystal alkali antimonide photocathode: high efficiency in the ultra-thin limit
• Electronic structure and optical properties of Na${}_2$KSb and NaK${}_2$Sb from first-principles many-body theory

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Direct spin imaging detector based on freestanding magnetic nanomembranes with electron optical amplification
• Revealing the (111) surface electronic structure of epitaxially grown Na${}_2$KSb photocathode