The advantages of contemporary particle injectors are high bunch charges and good beam quality in the case of normal conducting RF guns and increased repetition rates in the one of DC injectors. The technological edge of the concept of superconducting radio frequency injectors is to combine the strengths of both these sides. As many future accelerator concepts, such as energy recovery linacs, high power free electron lasers and certain collider designs, demand particle sources with high bunch charges and high repetition rates combined, applying the superconductivity of the accelerator modules to the injector itself is the next logical step. However, emittance compensation — the cornerstone for high beam quality — in case of a superconducting injector is much more challenging than in the normal conducting one. The use of simple electromagnets generating a solenoid field around the gun’s resonator interferes with its superconducting state. Hence, it requires novel and sophisticated techniques to maintain the high energy gain inside the gun cavity, while at the same time alleviating the detrimental fast transverse emittance growth of the bunch. In the case of the ELBE accelerator at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, a superconducting electron accelerator provides beam for several independent beamlines in continuous wave mode. The applications include IR to THz free electron lasers, neutron and positron generation, to Thompson backscattering with an inhouse TW laser, and hence, call for a flexible CW injector. Therefore, the development of a 3.5 cell superconducting electron gun was initiated in 1997. The focus of this thesis lies on three approaches of transverse emittance compensation for this photoinjector: RF focusing, the installation of a superconducting solenoid close to the cavity’s exit, and the introduction of a transverse electrical mode of the RF field in the resonator. All three methods are described in theory, examined by numerical simulation, and experimentally reviewed in the particular case of the ELBE SRF Gun II at HZDR and a copy of its niobium resonator at Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory, Newport News, VA, USA.

The advantages of contemporary particle injectors are high bunch charges and good beam quality in the case of normal conducting RF guns and increased repetition rates in the one of DC injectors. The technological edge of the concept of superconducting radio frequency injectors is to combine the strengths of both these sides. As many future accelerator concepts, such as energy recovery linacs, high power free electron lasers and certain collider designs, demand particle sources with high bunch charges and high repetition rates combined, applying the superconductivity of the accelerator modules to the injector itself is the next logical step. However, emittance compensation — the cornerstone for high beam quality — in case of a superconducting injector is much more challenging than in the normal conducting one. The use of simple electromagnets generating a solenoid field around the gun’s resonator interferes with its superconducting state. Hence, it requires novel and sophisticated techniques to maintain the high energy gain inside the gun cavity, while at the same time alleviating the detrimental fast transverse emittance growth of the bunch. In the case of the ELBE accelerator at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, a superconducting electron accelerator provides beam for several independent beamlines in continuous wave mode. The applications include IR to THz free electron lasers, neutron and positron generation, to Thompson backscattering with an inhouse TW laser, and hence, call for a flexible CW injector. Therefore, the development of a 3.5 cell superconducting electron gun was initiated in 1997. The focus of this thesis lies on three approaches of transverse emittance compensation for this photoinjector: RF focusing, the installation of a superconducting solenoid close to the cavity’s exit, and the introduction of a transverse electrical mode of the RF field in the resonator. All three methods are described in theory, examined by numerical simulation, and experimentally reviewed in the particular case of the ELBE SRF Gun II at HZDR and a copy of its niobium resonator at Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory, Newport News, VA, USA.

Zukünftige Beschleunigerprojekte und Nutzerexperimente erfordern für ihren Betrieb einen hochbrillanten Elektronenstrahl mit hohem mittlerem Strom. Eine Elektronenquelle mit dem Potential die Anforderungen erfüllen, ist ein supraleitender Hochfrequenz (SHF) Photoinjektor im Dauerstrichbetrieb. Die Strahldynamik eines solchen Photoinjektor Systems bestimmt die maximal zu erreichende Strahlbrillanz und wird ihrerseits von den Design und Betriebsparametern des Photoinjektors beeinflusst. Ziel ist immer die entscheidenden Design- und Betriebsparameter der Elektronenquelle hinsichtlich einer maximalen Strahlbrillanz zu wählen. Diese Aufgabe verlangt ein detailliertes Verständnis der Strahldynamik-Prozesse. Ferner ist es notwendig, eine Optimierung des Photoinjektors als Ganzes, mit dem Ziel einer maximalen Strahlqualität bei hohem mittlerem Strom, vorzunehmen. Dieses ermöglicht auch, die physikalischen Grenzen eines gegebenen Designs zu ermitteln und im Betrieb vollständig auszunutzen. Diese Doktorarbeit befasst sich mit der Strahldynamik in einem SHF Photoinjektor, unter Berücksichtigung interner Raumladungseffekte. Die Erkenntnisse zur Strahldynamik werden für die Entwicklung eines Optimierungsprogramms verwendet, um die Leistung des Injektors hinsichtlich der Strahlbrillanz zu verbessern. Die entwickelte Methode basiert auf Pareto-Optimierung mehrerer Zielfunktionen, unter Verwendung eines generischen Algorithmus. Das zentrale Ergebnis dieser Arbeit umfasst ein universelles Optimierungsprogramm, das für Photoinjektoren unabhängig von ihrem Design und Anwendungsgebiet genutzt werden kann. Für den Betrieb mit hoher Strahlbrillanz ist es möglich aus den erhaltenen Pareto-optimalen Lösungen einen stabilen Satz an Einstellwerten für den Photoinjektor zu extrahieren. Durch die allgemeine Optimierungsstrategie lässt sich das entwickelte Programm auch für andere Beschleunigerabschnitte, oder die Optimierung einer ganzen Anlage mit erweiterter Zielsetzung anpassen. / An increasing number of future accelerator projects, light sources and user experiments require high brightness, high average current electron beams for operation. Superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) photoinjectors running in continuous-wave (cw) mode hold the potential to serve as an electron source that generates electron beams of high brightness. Different operation and design parameters of the SRF photoinjector impact the beam dynamics and, thus, the beam brightness. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of the beam dynamics processes in an SRF photoinjector and the dependency of the beam dynamics on the photoinjector set parameters is crucial. A high brightness beam operation requires a global optimization of the SRF photoinjector that allows to find suitable photoinjector settings and to figure out and extend the physical performance limits of the investigated injector design. The dissertation at hand offers a detailed analysis of the beam dynamics in an SRF photoinjector regarding internal space charge effects. Furthermore, the impact of the photoinjector elements on the electron beam is discussed. The lessons learned from this theoretical view are implemented in the development of an optimization tool to achieve a high brightness performance. A universal multi-objective optimization program based on a generic algorithm was developed to extract stable, optimum gun parameter from Pareto-optimum solutions. This universal tool is able to optimize and find the physical performance limit of any (S)RF photoinjector independent from the individual application of the electron source (energy recovery linac, free electron laser, ultra-fast electron diffraction). This thesis thereby verifies and complements existing theoretical considerations regarding photoinjector-beam interactions. The global optimization strategy can be introduced to variable optimization objectives as well as it can be extended to an optimization of further parts of the accelerator facility.