Evaluation of Niobium as Candidate Electrode Material for DC High Voltage Photoelectron Guns

The field emission characteristics of niobium electrodes were compared to those of stainless steel electrodes using a DC high voltage field emission test apparatus. A total of eight electrodes were evaluated: two 304 stainless steel electrodes polished to mirror-like finish with diamond grit and six niobium electrodes (two single-crystal, two large-grain, and two fine-grain) that were chemically polished using a buffered-chemical acid solution. Upon the first application of high voltage, the best large-grain and single-crystal niobium electrodes performed better than the best stainless steel electrodes, exhibiting less field emission at comparable voltage and field strength. In all cases, field emission from electrodes (stainless steel and/or niobium) could be significantly reduced and sometimes completely eliminated, by introducing krypton gas into the vacuum chamber while the electrode was biased at high voltage. Of all the electrodes tested, a large-grain niobium electrode performed the best, exhibiting no measurable field emission (< 10 pA) at 225 kV with 20 mm cathode/anode gap, corresponding to a field strength of 18:7 MV/m

Studies of Breakdown in a Pressurized RF Cavity

Microscopic images of the surfaces of metallic electrodes used in high-pressure gas-filled 805 MHz RF cavity experiments [1] have been used to investigate the mechanism of RF breakdown [2]. The images show evidence for melting and boiling in small regions of ∼10 micron diameter on tungsten, molybdenum, and beryllium electrode surfaces. In these experiments, the dense hydrogen gas in the cavity prevents electrons or ions from being accelerated to high enough energy to participate in the breakdown process so that the only important variables are the fields and the metallic surfaces. The distributions of breakdown remnants on the electrode surfaces are compared to the maximum surface gradient E predicted by an ANSYS model of the cavity. The local surface density of spark remnants, proportional to the probability of breakdown, shows a strong exponential dependence on the maximum gradient, which is reminiscent of Fowler-Nordheim behavior of electron emission from a cold cathode. New simulation results have shown good agreement with the breakdown behaviour of the hydrogen gas in the Paschen region and have suggested improved behaviour with the addition of trace dopants such as SF6 [3]. Present efforts are to extend the computer model to include electrode breakdown phenomena and to use scanning tunnelling microscopy to search for work function differences between the conditioned and unconditioned parts of the electrodes

RF Breakdown of Metallic Surfaces in Hydrogen

In earlier reports, microscopic images of the surfaces of metallic electrodes used in high-pressure gas-filled 805 MHz RF cavity experiments were used to investigate the mechanism of RF breakdown of tungsten, molybdenum, and beryllium electrode surfaces. Plots of remnants were consistent with the breakdown events being due to field emission, due to the quantum mechanical tunnelling of electrons through a barrier as described by Fowler and Nordheim. In the work described here, these studies have been extended to include tin, aluminium, and copper. Contamination of the surfaces, discovered after the experiments concluded, have cast some doubt on the proper qualities to assign to the metallic surfaces. However, two significant results are noted. First, the maximum stable RF gradient of contaminated copper electrodes is higher than for a clean surface. Second, the addition of as little as 0.01% of SF6 to the hydrogen gas increased the maximum stable gradient, which implies that models of RF breakdown in hydrogen gas will be important to the study of metallic breakdown

RF Breakdown Studies Using a 1.3 GHZ Test Cell

Many present and future particle accelerators are limited by the maximum electric gradient and peak surface fields that can be realized in RF cavities. Despite considerable effort, a comprehensive theory of RF breakdown has not been achieved and mitigation techniques to improve practical maximum accelerating gradients have had only limited success. Recent studies have shown that high gradients can be achieved quickly in 805 MHz RF cavities pressurized with dense hydrogen gas without the need for long conditioning times, because the dense gas can dramatically reduce dark currents and multipacting. In this project we use this high pressure technique to suppress effects of residual vacuum and geometry found in evacuated cavities to isolate and study the role of the metallic surfaces in RF cavity breakdown as a function of magnetic field, frequency, and surface preparation. A 1.3-GHz RF test cell with replaceable electrodes (e.g. Mo, Cu, Be, W, and Nb) and pressure barrier capable of operating both at high pressure and in vacuum has been designed and built, and preliminary testing has been completed. A series of detailed experiments is planned at the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator. At the same time, computer simulations of the RF Breakdown process will be carried out to help develop a consistent physics model of RF Breakdown. In order to study the effect of the radiofrequency on RF Breakdown, a second test cell will be designed, fabricated, and tested at a lower frequency, most likely 402.5 MHz

PERLE. Powerful energy recovery linac for experiments. Conceptual design report

A conceptual design is presented of a novel energy-recovering linac (ERL) facility for the development and application of the energy recovery technique to linear electron accelerators in the multi-turn, large current and large energy regime. The main characteristics of the powerful energy recovery linac experiment facility (PERLE) are derived from the design of the Large Hadron electron Collider, an electron beam upgrade under study for the LHC, for which it would be the key demonstrator. PERLE is thus projected as a facility to investigate efficient, high current (HC) (>10 mA) ERL operation with three re-circulation passages through newly designed SCRF cavities, at 801.58 MHz frequency, and following deceleration over another three re-circulations. In its fully equipped configuration, PERLE provides an electron beam of approximately 1 GeV energy. A physics programme possibly associated with PERLE is sketched, consisting of high precision elastic electron–proton scattering experiments, as well as photo-nuclear reactions of unprecedented intensities with up to 30 MeV photon beam energy as may be obtained using Fabry–Perot cavities. The facility has further applications as a general technology test bed that can investigate and validate novel superconducting magnets (beam induced quench tests) and superconducting RF structures (structure tests with HC beams, beam loading and transients). Besides a chapter on operation aspects, the report contains detailed considerations on the choices for the SCRF structure, optics and lattice design, solutions for arc magnets, source and injector and on further essential components. A suitable configuration derived from the here presented design concept may next be moved forward to a technical design and possibly be built by an international collaboration which is being established