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D. A. Sergatskov

Publications and source records attributed to D. A. Sergatskov.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2021

Q-factor optimization for high-beta 650 MHz cavities for PIP-II

High Q-factors are of utmost importance to minimize losses of superconducting radio-frequency cavities deployed in continuous wave particle accelerators. This study elucidates the surface treatment that can maximize the Q-factors in high-beta 650 MHz elliptical niobium cavities. State-of-the-art surface treatments are applied in many single-cell cavities, and surface resistance studies are performed to understand the microwave dissipation at this unexplored frequency. The nitrogen doping treatment is confirmed to be necessary to maximize the Q-factors at medium RF fields. We applied this treatment in five-cell high-beta 650 MHz cavities and demonstrated that extremely high Q-factors were obtained at medium RF fields with this treatment. We also demonstrated that adding a cold electropolishing step after N-doping is crucial to push the quench field of multicell cavities to higher gradients.

physics.acc-ph↗
arXiv2020

Advances in Nb3Sn superconducting radiofrequency cavities towards first practical accelerator applications

Nb3Sn is a promising next-generation material for superconducting radiofrequency cavities, with significant potential for both large scale and compact accelerator applications. However, so far, Nb3Sn cavities have been limited to cw accelerating fields <18 MV/m. In this paper, new results are presented with significantly higher fields, as high as 24 MV/m in single cell cavities. Results are also presented from the first ever Nb3Sn-coated 1.3 GHz 9-cell cavity, a full-scale demonstration on the cavity type used in production for the European XFEL and LCLS-II. Results are presented together with heat dissipation curves to emphasize the potential for industrial accelerator applications using cryocooler-based cooling systems. The cavities studied have an atypical shiny visual appearance, and microscopy studies of witness samples reveal significantly reduced surface roughness and smaller film thickness compared to typical Nb3Sn films for superconducting cavities. Possible mechanisms for increased maximum field are discussed as well as implications for physics of RF superconductivity in the low coherence length regime. Outlook for continued development is presented.

physics.acc-ph↗
arXiv2019

Ultra-Low Surface Resistance via Vacuum Heat Treatment of Superconducting Radiofrequency Cavities

We report on an effort to improve the performance of superconducting radiofrequency cavities by the use of heat treatment in a temperature range sufficient to dissociate the natural surface oxide. We find that the residual resistance is significantly decreased, and we find an unexpected reduction in the BCS resistance. Together these result in extremely high quality factor values at relatively large accelerating fields Eacc ~20 MV/m: Q0 of 3-4x10^11 at <1.5 K and Q0 ~5x10^10 at 2.0 K. In one cavity, measurements of surface resistance versus temperature showed an extremely small residual resistance of just 0.63+/-0.06 nOhms at 16 MV/m. SIMS measurements confirm that the oxide was significantly dissociated, but they also show the presence of nitrogen after heat treatment. We also present studies of surface oxidation via exposure to air and to water, as well as the effects of very light surface removal via HF rinse. The possibilities for applications and the planned future development are discussed.

physics.acc-ph↗
arXiv2018

The Role of Magnetic Flux Expulsion to Reach Q0>3x10^10 in SRF Cryomodules

When a superconducting radiofrequency cavity is cooled through its critical temperature, ambient magnetic flux can become "frozen in" to the superconductor, resulting in degradation of the quality factor. This is especially problematic in applications where quality factor is a cost driver, such as in the CW linac for LCLS-II. Previously, it had been unknown how to prevent flux from being trapped during cooldown in bulk niobium cavities, but recent R&D studies showed near-full flux expulsion can be achieved through high temperature heat treatment and cooling cavities through the superconducting transition with a spatial thermal gradient over the surface. In this paper, we describe the first accelerator implementation of these procedures, in cryomodules that are currently being produced for LCLS-II. We compare the performance of cavities under different conditions of heat treatment and thermal gradient during cooldown, showing a substantial improvement in performance when both are applied, enabling cryomodules to reach and, in many cases, exceed a Q0 of ~3x10^10.

physics.acc-ph↗
arXiv2018

Accelerating fields up to 49 MV/m in TESLA-shape superconducting RF niobium cavities via 75C vacuum bake

In this paper we present the discovery of a new surface treatment applied to superconducting radio frequency (SRF) niobium cavities, leading to unprecedented accelerating fields of 49 MV/m in TESLA-shaped cavities, in continuous wave (CW); the corresponding peak magnetic fields are the highest ever measured in CW, about 210 mT. For TESLA-shape cavities the maximum quench field ever achieved was ~45 MV/m - reached very rarely- with most typical values being below 40 MV/m. These values are reached for niobium surfaces treated with electropolishing followed by the so called mild bake, a 120C vacuum bake (for 48 hours for fine grain and 24 hours for large grain surfaces). We discover that the addition during the mild bake of a step at 75C for few hours, before the 120C, increases systematically the quench fields up to unprecedented values of 49 MV/m. The significance of the result lays not only in the relative improvement, but in the proof that niobium surfaces can sustain and exceed CW radio frequency magnetic fields much larger than Hc1, pointing to an extrinsic nature of the current field limitations, and therefore to the potential to reach accelerating fields well beyond the current state of the art.

physics.acc-ph↗
arXiv2017

Advancement in the understanding of the field and frequency dependent microwave surface resistance of niobium

The radio-frequency surface resistance of niobium resonators is incredibly reduced when nitrogen impurities are dissolved as interstitial in the material, conferring ultra-high Q-factors at medium values of accelerating field. This effect has been observed in both high and low temperature nitrogen treatments. As a matter of fact, the peculiar anti Q-slope observed in nitrogen doped cavities, i.e. the decreasing of the Q-factor with the increasing of the radio-frequency field, come from the decreasing of the BCS surface resistance component as a function of the field. Such peculiar behavior has been considered consequence of the interstitial nitrogen present in the niobium lattice after the doping treatment. The study here presented show the field dependence of the BCS surface resistance of cavities with different resonant frequencies, such as: 650 MHz, 1.3 GHz, 2.6 GHz and 3.9 GHz, and processed with different state-of-the-art surface treatments. These findings show for the first time that the anti Q-slope might be seen at high frequency even for clean Niobium cavities, revealing useful suggestion on the physics underneath the anti Q-slope effect.

physics.acc-ph↗
arXiv2017

Unprecedented Quality Factors at Accelerating Gradients up to 45 MV/m in Niobium Superconducting Resonators via Low Temperature Nitrogen Infusion

We report the finding of new surface treatments that permit to manipulate the niobium resonator nitrogen content in the first few nanometers in a controlled way, and the resonator fundamental Mattis-Bardeen surface resistance and residual resistance accordingly. In particular, we find surface infusion conditions that systematically a) increase the quality factor of these 1.3 GHz superconducting radio frequency (SRF) bulk niobium resonators, up to very high gradients; b) increase the achievable accelerating gradient of the cavity compared to its own baseline with state-of-the-art surface processing. Cavities subject to the new surface process have larger than two times the state of the art Q at 2K for accelerating fields > 35 MV/m. Moreover, very high accelerating gradients ~ 45 MV/m are repeatedly reached, which correspond to peak magnetic surface fields of 190 mT, among the highest measured for bulk niobium cavities. These findings open the opportunity to tailor the surface impurity content distribution to maximize performance in Q and gradients, and have therefore very important implications on future performance and cost of SRF based accelerators. They also help deepen the understanding of the physics of the RF niobium cavity surface.

physics.acc-ph↗
arXiv2016

Effect of interstitial impurities on the field dependent microwave surface resistance of niobium

Previous work has demonstrated that the radio frequency surface resistance of niobium resonators is dramatically reduced when nitrogen impurities are dissolved as interstitial in the material. The origin of this effect is attributed to the lowering of the Mattis and Bardeen surface resistance contribution with increasing accelerating field. Meanwhile, an enhancement of the sensitivity to trapped magnetic field is typically observed for such cavities. In this paper we conduct the first systematic study on these different components contributing to the total surface resistance as a function of different levels of dissolved nitrogen, in comparison with standard surface treatments for niobium resonators. Adding these results together we are able to show for the first time which is the optimum surface treatment that maximizes the Q-factor of superconducting niobium resonators as a function of expected trapped magnetic field in the cavity walls. These results also provide new insights on the physics behind the change in the field dependence of the Mattis and Bardeen surface resistance, and of the trapped magnetic vortex induced losses in superconducting niobium resonators.

physics.acc-ph↗
arXiv2016

Quench-Induced Degradation of the Quality Factor in Superconducting Resonators

Quench of superconducting radio-frequency cavities frequently leads to the lowered quality factor Q0, which had been attributed to the additional trapped magnetic flux. Here we demonstrate that the origin of this magnetic flux is purely extrinsic to the cavity by showing no extra dissipation (unchanged Q0) after quenching in zero magnetic field, which allows us to rule out intrinsic mechanisms of flux trapping such as generation of thermal currents or trapping of the rf field. We also show the clear relation of dissipation introduced by quenching to the orientation of the applied magnetic field and the possibility to fully recover the quality factor by requenching in the compensated field. We discover that for larger values of the ambient field, the Q-factor degradation may become irreversible by this technique, likely due to the outward flux migration beyond the normal zone opening during quench. Our findings are of special practical importance for accelerators based on low- and medium-beta accelerating structures residing close to focusing magnets, as well as for all high-Q cavity-based accelerators.

physics.acc-ph↗
arXiv2016

Efficient expulsion of magnetic flux in superconducting RF cavities for high $Q_0$ applications

Even when cooled through its transition temperature in the presence of an external magnetic field, a superconductor can expel nearly all external magnetic flux. This Letter presents an experimental study to identify the parameters that most strongly influence flux trapping in high purity niobium during cooldown. This is critical to the operation of superconducting radiofrequency cavities, in which trapped flux degrades the quality factor and therefore cryogenic efficiency. Flux expulsion was measured on a large survey of 1.3 GHz cavities prepared in various ways. It is shown that both spatial thermal gradient and high temperature treatment are critical to expelling external magnetic fields, while surface treatment has minimal effect. For the first time, it is shown that a cavity can be converted from poor expulsion behavior to strong expulsion behavior after furnace treatment, resulting in a substantial improvement in quality factor. Future plans are described to build on this result in order to optimize treatment for future cavities.

physics.acc-ph↗
arXiv2015

Cooling Dynamics Through Transition Temperature of Niobium SRF Cavities Captured by Temperature Mapping

Cool-down dynamics of superconducting accelerating cavities became particularly important for obtaining very high quality factors in SRF cavities. Previous studies proved that when cavity is cooled fast, the quality factor is higher than when cavity is cooled slowly. This has been discovered to derive from the fact that a fast cool-down allows better magnetic field expulsion during the superconducting transition. In this paper we describe the first experiment where the temperature all around the cavity was mapped during the cavity cool-down through transition temperature, proving the existence of two different transition dynamics: a sharp superconducting-normal conducting transition during fast cool-down which favors flux expulsion and nucleation phase transition during slow cool-down, which leads to full flux trapping.

physics.acc-ph↗
arXiv2015

Magnetic Flux Dynamics in Horizontally Cooled Superconducting Cavities

Previous studies on magnetic flux expulsion as a function of cooling details have been performed for superconducting niobium cavities with the cavity beam axis placed parallel respect to the helium cooling flow, and findings showed that for sufficient cooling thermogradients all magnetic flux could be expelled and very low residual resistance could be achieved. In this paper we investigate the flux trapping and its impact on radio frequency surface resistance when the resonators are positioned perpendicularly to the helium cooling flow, which is representative of how superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities are cooled in an accelerator. We also extend the studies to different directions of applied magnetic field surrounding the resonator. Results show that in the cavity horizontal configuration there is a different impact of the various field components on the final surface resistance, and that several parameters have to be considered to understand flux dynamics. A newly discovered phenomenon of concentration of flux lines at the cavity top leading to cavity equator temperature rise is presented.

physics.acc-ph↗
arXiv2014

Ultra-high quality factors in superconducting niobium cavities in ambient magnetic fields up to 190 mG

Ambient magnetic field, if trapped in the penetration depth, leads to the residual resistance and therefore sets the limit for the achievable quality factors in superconducting niobium resonators for particle accelerators. Here we show that a complete expulsion of the magnetic flux can be performed and leads to: 1) record quality factors $Q > 2\times10^{11}$ up to accelerating gradient of 22 MV/m; 2) $Q\sim3\times10^{10}$ at 2 K and 16 MV/m in up to 190 mG magnetic fields. This is achieved by large thermal gradients at the normal/superconducting phase front during the cooldown. Our findings open up a way to ultra-high quality factors at low temperatures and show an alternative to the sophisticated magnetic shielding implemented in modern superconducting accelerators.

physics.acc-ph↗
arXiv2014

Dependence of the residual surface resistance of superconducting RF cavities on the cooling dynamics around $T_\mathrm{c}$

We report a strong effect of the cooling dynamics through $T_\mathrm{c}$ on the amount of trapped external magnetic flux in superconducting niobium cavities. The effect is similar for fine grain and single crystal niobium and all surface treatments including electropolishing with and without 120$^\circ$C baking and nitrogen doping. Direct magnetic field measurements on the cavity walls show that the effect stems from changes in the flux trapping efficiency: slow cooling leads to almost complete flux trapping and higher residual resistance while fast cooling leads to the much more efficient flux expulsion and lower residual resistance.

physics.acc-ph↗
arXiv2013

High Gradient Tests of the Fermilab SSR1 Cavity

In Fermilab we are build and tested several superconducting Single Spoke Resonators (SSR1, β=0.22) which can be used for acceleration of low beta ions. Fist two cavities performed very well during cold test in Vertical Test Station at FNAL. One dressed cavity was also tested successfully in Horizontal Test Station. Currently we are building 8 cavity cryomodule for PIXIE project. Additional 10 cavities were manufactured in the industry and on-going cold test results will be presented in this poster.

physics.acc-ph↗