Initial Current Measurements from the Samford Electron Accelerator Laboratory

Samford University has recently developed a 50 KV DC electron accelerator as a first step towards a table-top Smith-Purcell driven free-electron laser. The electron accelerator has been successfully operated at high voltage, under ultra high vacuum. Current work is oriented towards the development of extremely high brightness electron sources. Single micron radius tungsten needle cathodes are being investigated. Samford has been able to reproduce the high brightness beams created at Vanderbilt with needle cathodes under simple field emission. We are currently trying to obtain a UV laser to extend our investigation into photo-field emission.