Quantum efficiency conversion from the reflection-mode GaAs photocathode to the transmission-mode one

Abstract

In the article, the transmission-mode negative electron affinity GaAs photocathode is compared with the reflection-mode one in structure, working principle and the quantum efficiency equation. The key point to establish relation between the two modes is that the active-layer is in full accord and the biggest difference is that the incident direction of photons is inverse. Based on the relation and difference above, we obtain the electron escape probability P and the spectrum absorption coefficient α of the reflection-mode GaAs photocathode by multilayer film matrix theory. The quantum efficiency of the transmission-mode GaAs photocathode can be estimated through the coefficients P and α of the reflection-mode one. Two groups of samples are analyzed, the one group contains uniform doping reflection-mode and transmission-mode GaAs photocathodes and the other contains exponential doping ones. Through the analysis and curve fitting, we find that the conversion difference of the uniform-doping is about 11.22% while that of the exponential-doping is about 5.46%. Another four groups of samples with exponential-doping active layer are experimentalized and the differences of them are all less than 6%. The results prove the suggested method is feasible and effective and it is more suitable for the conversion of GaAs photocathode with exponential-doping active layer.