Metal and semiconductor photocathodes in HZDR SRF gun

Quality of photocathode in a photoinjector is one of the critical issues for the stability and reliability of the whole accelerator facility. In April 2013, the IR FEL lasing was demonstrated for the first time with the electron beam from the SRF gun with Cs2Te at HZDR. Cs2Te photocathode worked in SRF gun-I for more than one year without degradation. Currently, Mg photocathodes with QE up to 0.5% are applied in SRF Gun-II, generating e- beam with bunch charge up to 300 pC in CW mode with sub-ps bunch length for the high power THz radiation. It is an excellent demonstration that SRF guns can work reliably in a high power user facility.