Alexander Romanenko

Nitrogen and argon doping of niobium for superconducting radio frequency cavities: a pathway to highly efficient accelerating structures

We report a surface treatment that systematically improves the quality factor of niobium radio frequency cavities beyond the expected limit for niobium. A combination of annealing in a partial pressure of nitrogen or argon gas and subsequent electropolishing of the niobium cavity surface leads to unprecedented low values of the microwave surface resistance, and an improvement in the efficiency of the accelerating structures up to a factor of 3, reducing the cryogenic load of superconducting cavities for both pulsed and continuous duty cycles. The field dependence of the surface resistance is reversed compared to standardly treated niobium.

Proximity breakdown of hydrides in superconducting niobium cavities

Many modern and proposed future particle accelerators rely on superconducting radio frequency cavities made of bulk niobium as primary particle accelerating structures. Such cavities suer from the anomalous eld dependence of their quality factors Q0. High eld degradation - so-called high eld Q-slope - is yet unexplained even though an empirical cure is known. Here we propose a mechanism based on the presence of proximity-coupled niobium hydrides, which can explain this eect. Furthermore, the same mechanism can be present in any surface-sensitive experiments or superconducting devices involving niobium.

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 Qu2009>u20092u2009×u20091011 up to accelerating gradient of 22 MV/m; (2) Qu2009∼u20093u2009×u20091010 at 2u2009K 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.

Dependence of the residual surface resistance of superconducting radio frequency cavities on the cooling dynamics around Tc

We report a strong effect of the cooling dynamics through Tc 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 120u2009°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.

Electron energy-loss spectroscopy study of metallic Nb and Nb oxides

We present a series of electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) studies on niobium (Nb) and its oxides (NbO, NbO2, and Nb2O5) to develop a reliable method for quantifying the oxidation state in mixed niobium oxide thin films. Our approach utilizes a combination of transmission electron microscopy and EELS experiments with density functional theory calculations to distinguish between metallic niobium and the different niobium oxides. More specifically, the differences in the near-edge fine-structure of the Nb M-edge and O K-edge provide sufficient information to determine the valence state of niobium. Based on these observed changes in the core-loss edges, we propose a linear relationship that correlates the peak positions in the Nb M- and O K-edges with the Nb valence state. The methods developed in this paper are also applied to ultrathin niobium oxide films to examine the effects of low-temperature baking on the films’ oxidation states.

Efficient expulsion of magnetic flux in superconducting radiofrequency cavities for high Q0 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 paper 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 1.3u2009GHz 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. Microscopic investigations are performed to study the relevant changes in the material from this treatment. Future plans are described to build on this result in order to optimize treatment for future cavities.

Model for initiation of quality factor degradation at high accelerating fields in superconducting radio-frequency cavities

A model for the onset of the reduction in superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavity quality factor, the so-called Q-drop, at high accelerating electric fields is presented. Since magnetic fields at the cavity equator are tied to accelerating electric fields by a simple geometric factor, the onset of magnetic flux penetration determines the onset of Q-drop. We consider breakdown of the surface barrier at triangular grooves to predict the magnetic field of first flux penetration Hpen. Such defects were argued to be the worst case by Buzdin and Daumens (1998 Physica?C?294?257), whose approach, moreover, incorporates both the geometry of the groove and local contamination via the Ginzburg?Landau parameter ?. Since previous Q-drop models focused on either topography or contamination alone, the proposed model allows new comparisons of one effect in relation to the other. The model predicts equivalent reduction of Hpen when either roughness or contamination were varied alone, so smooth but dirty surfaces limit cavity performance about as much as rough but clean surfaces do. Still lower Hpen was predicted when both effects were combined, i.e.?contamination should exacerbate the negative effects of roughness and vice?versa. To test the model with actual data, coupons were prepared by buffered chemical polishing and electropolishing, and stylus profilometry was used to obtain distributions of angles. From these data, curves for surface resistance generated by simple flux flow as a function of magnetic field were generated by integrating over the distribution of angles for reasonable values of ?. This showed that combined effects of roughness and contamination indeed reduce the Q-drop onset field by ~ 20%, and that contamination contributes to Q-drop as much as roughness. The latter point may be overlooked by SRF cavity research, since access to the cavity interior by spectroscopy tools is very difficult, whereas optical images have become commonplace. The model was extended to fit cavity test data, which indicated that reduction of the superconducting gap by contaminants may also play a role in Q-drop.

Precipitation of hydrides in high purity niobium after different treatments

Precipitation of lossy non-superconducting niobium hydrides represents a known problem for high purity niobium in superconducting applications. Using cryogenic optical and laser confocal scanning microscopy, we have directly observed surface precipitation and evolution of niobium hydrides in samples after different treatments used for superconducting RF cavities for particle acceleration. Precipitation is shown to occur throughout the sample volume, and the growth of hydrides is well described by the fast diffusion-controlled process in which almost all hydrogen is precipitated at Tu2009=u2009140u2009K within ∼30u2009min. 120u2009°C baking and mechanical deformation are found to affect hydride precipitation through their influence on the number of nucleation and trapping centers.

Magnetic flux studies in horizontally cooled elliptical superconducting cavities

Previous studies on magnetic flux expulsion as a function of cooldown procedures for elliptical superconducting radio frequency (SRF) niobium cavities showed that when the cavity beam axis is placed parallel to the helium cooling flow and sufficiently large thermal gradients are achieved, all magnetic flux could be expelled and very low residual resistance could be achieved. In this paper, we investigate flux trapping for the case of resonators positioned perpendicularly to the helium cooling flow, which is more representative of how SRF cavities are cooled in accelerators and for different directions of the applied magnetic field surrounding the resonator. We show that different field components have a different impact on the surface resistance, and several parameters have to be considered to fully understand the flux dynamics. A newly discovered phenomenon of concentration of flux lines at the cavity top leading to temperature rise at the cavity equator is presented.

Unprecedented quality factors at accelerating gradients up to 45 MVm−1 in niobium superconducting resonators via low temperature nitrogen infusion

We report the finding of new surface treatments that permits one 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 more than two times the state-of-the-art Q at 2 K for accelerating fields >35 MVm−1. Moreover, very high accelerating gradients ~45 MVm−1 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.