Experimental study on the luminous radiation associated to the field emission of samples submitted to high RF fields

The accelerating gradient of the RF cavities is limited by the strong field emission (FE) of electrons stemming from the metallic walls. Previous experiments evidenced luminous radiations associated with electron emission of cathodes subjected to intense DC electric field. These observations invoked the proposal of new theoretical models of the field emission phenomenon. This experimental study extends the previous DC works to the RF case. A special copper RF cavity has been developed equipped with an optical window and a removable sample. It has been designed for measuring both electron current and luminous radiation emitted by the sample, subjected to maximum RF electric field. The optical apparatus attached to the cavity permits to characterize the radiation in terms of intensity, glowing duration and spectral distribution. The results concerning different niobium or copper samples, whom top was either scratched or intentionally contaminated with metallic or dielectric particles are summarized. (author)