Speaker
Description
This work will provide an insight into the CERN R&D programme on superconducting thin films. The aim is to find coating techniques and/or new materials with enhanced RF performance applicable to SRF cavities. The main lines of research at CERN consist of Nb on Cu technology, historically used in our accelerators, and A15 on Cu, to find new superconducting materials with potential application to SRF. The methodology used for characterizing a new thin film will be exposed, starting from testing small flat samples with the Quadrupole Resonator. Then, the thin films showing good results in the QPR are applied to 1.3 GHz copper cavities to determine their reproducibility in a bigger, non flat surface. Examples will be given to describe this process and results will be discussed. Finally, the current lines of work will be reported, with the ultimate goal of producing SRF thin film cavities competitive with the bulk niobium ones in terms of RF performance.
