Commissioning of an improved superconducting RF photo injector at ELBE

In order to produce high-brightness electron beams in a superconducting RF photo injector, the most important point is to reach a high acceleration field in the cavity. For this reason two new 3.5-cell niobium cavities were fabricated, chemically treated and cleaned in collaboration with Jlab. The first of these two cavities was shipped to HZDR and assembled in new cryomodule. This new gun (SRF Gun II) was installed in the ELBE accelerator hall in May 2014 and replaces the previous SRF Gun I which was in operation since 2007. Beside the new cavity the ELBE SRF gun II differs from the previous gun by the integration of a superconducting solenoid in the cryomodule. After a first test run with a Cu cathode the gun will be operated with normal-conducting Cs2Te photo cathodes.