Abstract
The influence of O2, CO2, CO, N2, H2 and CH4 on the stability of the quantum efficiency (QE) of a negative electron affinity gallium arsenide (GaAs) photocathode activated with caesium (Cs) and oxygen (O) has been demonstrated for the first time under an extremely high vacuum condition, a base pressure of 1.5 × 10−11 mbar, where the influence of the background gas is minimized. It was found that exposure of a GaAs photocathode to N2, H2 and CH4 does not affect the QE, whereas exposure to O2, CO2 and CO leads to a substantial reduction in photocathode QE. It was also found that the QE of photocathodes which have been degraded under O2 exposure can be recovered to 95% of their initial QE level by the re-caesiation process, while those which have been degraded under exposure to CO and CO2 can only be partly restored to 60–70% of their initial QE levels.
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