This research addresses the need for high brightness sources of high current pulsed electron beams through an in depth study of electron emission from ferroelectric materials. Recently copious emission of electrons has been observed from ferroelectric materials upon fast polarization change. Using lead zirconium titanate (PZT) and lead lanthanam zirconium titanate (PLZT) electron emission current densities of 100A/cm2 have been observed. This current density is about an order of magnitude larger than possible with thermionic cathodes and close to the maximum obtained with laser driven photocathodes. The ferroelectric source is a room temperature emitter with a theoretical brightness limit a 3.2X1012 A/m2.rad2 which is an order of magnitude large than present photocathodes. The beam emittance, brightness and spatial profile will be measured during Phase I. This simple source has the potential to replace thermionic and photocathodes in advanced accelerators and RF sources. The source is potentially attractive due to the high brightness obtainable with a simple system as compared to thermionic cathodes requiring pulsed bunching for high currents or photocathodes driven by large lasers.
