Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
DOI
10.1088/1361-6528/ae2e02
Publication Title
Nanotechnology
Volume
37
Issue
1
Pages
015204
Abstract
This study investigates the quantum efficiency (QE) and operational lifetime of a negative electron affinity GaAs truncated nanocone array (TNCA) photocathode benchmarked against a conventional flat GaAs photocathode under varying activation temperatures. The TNCA structure demonstrated a QE of up to 13.6% at 590 nm with room temperature (RT) activation—approximately 1.5 times higher than its flat counterpart. This enhancement is due to Mie resonance effects within the nanostructure, as confirmed by finite-difference time-domain simulations. Moreover, the TNCA photocathode exhibits significantly extended charge lifetime, with enhancement factors of ∼6.1 and ∼19.8 under RT and 50 °C activations, respectively. These gains are primarily attributed to increased effective surface area and optimized dipole layer formation at elevated temperatures. In addition, shorter excitation wavelengths further contribute to lifetime improvements. These findings underscore the TNCA GaAs photocathode’s potential as a high QE, long lifetime electron source for many large-scale electron accelerators.
Rights
© 2026 The Authors.
Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the authors and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Data Availability
Article states: "All data that support the findings of this study are included within the article (and any supplementary files)."
Original Publication Citation
Rahman, M. A. A., Mamun, M. A., Zhang, S., & Elsayed-Ali, H. E. (2025). Effect of activation temperature on quantum efficiency and lifetime of NEA truncated nanocone array GaAs photocathode. Nanotechnology, 37(1), Article 015204. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/ae2e02
ORCID
0000-0002-8348-5204 (Rahman), 0000-0002-1329-5018 (Elsayed-Ali)
Repository Citation
Rahman, Md. Aziz Arroyo; Mamun, Md Abdullah; Zhang, Shukui; and Elsayed-Ali, Hani E., "Effect of Activation Temperature on Quantum Efficiency and Lifetime of NEA Truncated Nanocone Array GaAs Photocathode" (2025). Physics Faculty Publications. 1005.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/physics_fac_pubs/1005