We report the rf performance of a single-cell superconducting radiofrequency cavity after low temperature baking in a nitrogen environment. A significant increase in quality factor has been observed when the cavity was heat treated in the temperature range of 120-160 °C with a nitrogen partial pressure of ~25 mTorr. This increase in quality factor as well as the Q-rise phenomenon ("anti-Q-slope") is similar to those previously obtained with high temperature nitrogen doping as well as titanium doping. In this study, a cavity N 2 -treated at 120 °C and at140 °C, showed no degradation in accelerating gradient, however the accelerating gradient was degraded by ~25% with a 160 °C N 2 treatment. Sample coupons treated in the same conditions as the cavity were analyzed by scanning electron microscope, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectroscopy revealed a complex surface composition of Nb 2 O 5 , NbO and NbN (1-x) O x within the rf penetration depth. Furthermore, magnetization measurements showed no significant change on bulk superconducting properties.

We report the results from the measurements of high purity Nb samples and superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavities doped with nitrogen and followed by either electropolishing (EP) or buffered chemical polishing (BCP), in order to understand the role of the postdoping treatment on the performance of SRF cavities. The samples characterization via scanning electron microscope, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectroscopy showed topographical differences on the surface of the samples after EP versus BCP treatment, but similar surface composition. Radio-frequency measurements were done on single cell cavities made from fine-grain and large-grain Nb treated by nitrogen doping followed by BCP and showed that improved Q 0 in the medium field in both fine-grain and large-grain cavities is possible with BCP postprocessing. However, there are differences between performances of large-grain versus fine-grain cavities after BCP. A cavity made from large-grain Nb showed a larger increase in Q 0 and a lower quench field compared to cavities made from fine-grain Nb.

Elemental type-II superconducting niobium is the material of choice for superconducting radiofrequency cavities used in modern particle accelerators, light sources, detectors, sensors, and quantum computing architecture. An essential challenge to increasing energy efficiency in rf applications is the power dissipation due to residual magnetic field that is trapped during the cool down process due to incomplete magnetic field expulsion. New SRF cavity processing recipes that use surface doping techniques have significantly increased their cryogenic efficiency. However, the performance of SRF Nb accelerators still shows vulnerability to a trapped magnetic field. In this manuscript, we report the observation of a direct link between flux trapping and incomplete flux expulsion with spatial variations in microstructure within the niobium. Fine-grain recrystallized microstructure with an average grain size of 10–50 µm leads to flux trapping even with a lack of dislocation structures in grain interiors. Larger grain sizes beyond 100–400 µm do not lead to preferential flux trapping, as observed directly by magneto-optical imaging. While local magnetic flux variations imaged by magneto-optics provide clarity on a microstructure level, bulk variations are also indicated by variations in pinning force curves with sequential heat treatment studies. The key results indicate that complete control of the niobium microstructure will help produce higher performance superconducting resonators with reduced rf losses1 related to the magnetic flux trapping.

No abstract

Nb is an elemental superconductor with a critical temperature of 9.3 K and is widely used to fabricate superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavities for particle accelerators. However, microstructural defects in Nb, such as grain boundaries and dislocations, can act as pinning centers for magnetic flux that can degrade SRF cavity performance. Hydrogen contamination is also detrimental to SRF cavity performance due to the formation of normal conducting hydrides during cool down. In this study, disc shaped Nb bi-crystals extracted from a high-purity large-grain Nb slice were investigated to study the effects of grain boundaries, hydrogen, and dislocations on superconducting properties. Grain orientation and grain boundary misorientation were measured using Laue X-ray diffraction and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) analyses. Cryogenic magneto-optical imaging was used to directly observe magnetic flux penetration below T_c =9.3 K. Damage caused by low temperature precipitation of hydrides and their dissolution upon reheating after cryogenic cycles was examined using electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI), and EBSD. The relationships between hydride formation, dislocation content, grain boundaries, cryo-cooling, heat treatment, and flux penetration indicate that both grain boundary character and hydrogen content affect magnetic flux penetration. Such flux penetration could be facilitated by dislocation structures and low angle grain boundaries resulting from hydride precipitation and heat treatment.