P-GaAs(Cs,O)-photocathodes: Demarcation of domains of validity for practical models of the activation layer

Abstract

The (Cs,O)-activation procedure for p-GaAs(Cs,O)-photocathodes was studied with the aim of demarcating the domains of validity for the two practical models of the (Cs,O)-activation layer: The dipole layer (DL) model and the heterojunction (HJ) model. To do this, the photocathode was activated far beyond the normal maximum of quantum efficiency, and several photocathode parameters were measured periodically during this process. In doing so, the data obtained enabled us to determine the domains of validity for the DL- and HJ-models, to define more precisely the characteristic parameters of the photocathode within both of these domains and thus to reveal the peculiarities of the influence of the (Cs,O)-layer on the photoelectron escape probability.