The Polarized Electron Source of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center*

The Stanford Linear Accelerator has been running with polarized electrons both in the collider (SLC) mode and in the fixed target mode. The accelerator's polarized electron source is based on a thin, strained GaAs photocathode, which is held at a negative high voltage and illuminated by a Titanium Sapphire laser. The reliability of the source was better than 95% during the eight-month-long 1993 SLC run. A beam polarization of 63% was measured by the SLD experiment at the SLC interaction point in the 1993 data run. The fixed-target experiment E143 measured a beam polarization of 85% in its 1993Ð94 run. These polarization measurements, made at high energy, are in good agreement with measurements made at low energy on a calibrated Mott polarimeter. The higher beam polarization in the fixed target experiment is due to a thinner, more highly strained GaAs photocathode than had been used earlier, and to the experiment's low beam current requirements. The SLC is now running with the high polarization photocathode. Details of the source, and experience with the high polarization strained GaAs photocathodes on the accelerator in the current SLC run, will be presented.