Ultra Cold Photoelectron Beams for Ion Storage Rings

An ultra cold electron target with a cryogenic GaAs photocathode source, developed for the Heidelberg TSR, delivers electron currents up to a few mA with typical kinetic energies of few keV and provides unprecedented energy resolution below 1 meV for electron-ion recombination merged-beam experiments. For the new generation of low-energy electrostatic storage rings, cold electron beams from a photocathode source can bring additional benefits, improving the cooling efficiency of stored ions and making it possible to cool even heavy, slow molecules by electron beams of energies of only a few eV or even below.