Ultra-Cold Plasma (UCP) sources

Introduction: Regular rf-photoguns have an initial thermal rms-emittance of about 0.5 micron per millimeter spot-size. It has recently been proposed to use an ionized ultra-cold plasma instead of a 'hot' cathode. This virtually eliminates the initial thermal emittance, potentially leading to orders of magnitude higher brightness.

Publications: [ Ultracold Electron Source, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 164801 (2005) ]

Artist impression of the design currently under investigation.

Experimental progress: Cold atoms are trapped in a preliminary set-up.

Set-up of Eindhoven University: Bert Claessens and Gabriel Taban.

Collaboration: This project is commissioned by the Technical University of Eindhoven (TUE), Department of Physics, The Netherlands.