Effect of nanoscale surface roughness on transverse energy spread from GaAs photocathodes

High quantum yield, low transverse energy spread, and prompt response time make GaAs activated to negative electron affinity an ideal candidate for a photocathode in high brightness photoinjectors. Even after decades of investigation, the exact mechanism of electron emission from GaAs is not well understood. We show that a nanoscale surface roughness can affect the transverse electron spread from GaAs by nearly an order of magnitude and explain the seemingly controversial experimental results obtained so far. This model can also explain the measured dependence of transverse energy spread on the wavelength of incident light.