Experimental characterization of the electron source at the Photo Injector Test facility at DESY Zeuthen

The Photo Injector Test facility at DESY Zeuthen (PITZ) was built in order to study the production of high brightness electron beams, which are substantial for the successful operation of free electron lasers (FEL) and linear colliders. The photoinjector at Zeuthen is based on a 1.5-cell L-band rf cavity with coaxial rf coupler equipped with emittance compensating solenoids, a laser capable to generate long pulse trains, an UHV photo cathode exchange system, and various diagnostics tools. The current goal of PITZ is a full characterization of the electron source, which will be installed at the TESLA Test Facility Free Electron Laser (TTF2-FEL) in autumn 2003. In the running periods before the gun is delivered to TTF2-FEL, the rf performance and the beam parameters will be measured in detail. The results presented in this contribution contain the measurements of dark current, driving laser parameters, beam charge, beam size along the facility, transverse emittance, momentum and momentum spread. The electron beam measurements will be presented in comparison with beam dynamics simulations.