Benchmarking of 3D space charge codes using direct phase space measurements from photoemission high voltage dc gun

We present a comparison between space charge calculations and direct measurements of the transverse phase space of space charge dominated electron bunches from a high voltage dc photoemission gun followed by an emittance compensation solenoid magnet. The measurements were performed using a double-slit emittance measurement system over a range of bunch charge and solenoid current values. The data are compared with detailed simulations using the 3D space charge codes GPT and Parmela3D. The initial particle distributions were generated from measured transverse and temporal laser beam profiles at the photocathode. The beam brightness as a function of beam fraction is calculated for the measured phase space maps and found to approach within a factor of 2 the theoretical maximum set by the thermal energy and the accelerating field at the photocathode.