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Enhanced Plasma Throughput for
Superconducting Niobium Thin Film Deposition in RF
Accelerator Cavities--Alameda Applied Sciences Corporation, 626 Whitney
Street, San Leandro, CA 94577-1116; 510-483-4156; www.aasc.net
Mr. Andrew Gerhan,
Principal Investigator, gerhan@aasc.net
Mr. Andrew Gerhan,
Business Official, gerhan@aasc.net
DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-07ER84741
Amount: $99,989
Radio
frequency (RF) cavities, key components in particle accelerators for
fundamental high energy physics research, increasingly utilize superconducting technology to achieve higher accelerating
field gradients. Traditionally, superconducting RF cavities are made of niobium, which,
although expensive and difficult to fabricate, is able to be formed into large
mechanical structures. Recently,
interest has been growing in replacing niobium cavities with copper cavities
coated with thin superconducting niobium films. Coaxial energetic deposition (CED), a cathodic arc process, has been shown to be well-suited for
this application, provided that macro-particles can be separated from the
deposition ions and sufficiently high deposition rates can be achieved. Therefore, this project will further develop
the CED process for coating the inside of copper RF accelerator cavities with
high-quality niobium films. In Phase I,
an active macro-particle filter will be developed and the process repetition
rate will be increased, both to increase the process deposition rate.
Commercial
Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: The superconducting thin film coatings for accelerator cavities
should reduce the development and operating costs of particle accelerators, and
allow existing accelerators to achieve higher particle energies. The technology also should lead to enhanced
coatings for other applications, for example, protective coatings for coal
gasification, olefin manufacturing, and gun barrels for the military.