  For the SwissFEL Free Electron Laser project at the Paul Scherrer Institute,
a pulsed High Gradient (HG) electron gun was used to study low emittance
electron sources. Different metals and surface treatments for the cathode and
anode were studied for their HG suitability. Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) coatings
are found to perform exceptionally well for vacuum gap insulation. A set of DLC
coated electrodes with different coating parameters were tested for both vacuum
breakdown and photo electron emission. Surface electric fields over 250MV/m
(350 - 400kV, pulsed) were achieved without breakdown. From the same surface,
it was possible to photo-emit an electron beam at gradients up to 150MV/m. The
test setup and the experimental results are presented
