Nozdrin, M.A. Balalykin, N. Gacheva, E. Huran, J. Minashkin, V.F. Poteomkin, A. Shirkov, G. Zelenogorsky, V. JACoW Publishing Geneva, Switzerland 2226-0366 978-3-95450-194-6 10.18429/JACoW-LINAC2018-MOPO010 English 62-64 MOPO010 cathode electron laser gun scattering Contribution to a conference proceedings 2019 2019-01 https://doi.org/10.18429/JACoW-LINAC2018-MOPO010 http://jacow.org/linac2018/papers/mopo010.pdf Photocathode research in the frame of the "transmission" photocathode conception (backside illuminated cathode based on a quartz/sapphire plate or a metal mesh which is a substrate for thin film made of a photomaterial) is being conducted in the Veksler and Baldin Laboratory of High Energy physics (LHEP) of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR). Status of the 30-kev DC Photogun test bench and recent results of the extremely thin carbon film based cathodes research are described. Progress in the full-scale photoinjector prototype (max electron energy of 400 keV) is given. Startup of the photoinjector was performed, 70 keV electrons were extracted (650 pC).