Muon spin rotation studies of niobium for superconducting RF applications

In this work we investigate superconducting properties of niobium samples via application of the muon spin rotation/relaxation (muSR) technique. We employ for the first time the muSR technique to study samples that are cutout from large and small grain 1.5 GHz radio frequency (RF) single cell niobium cavities. The RF test of these cavities was accompanied by full temperature mapping to characterize the RF losses in each of the samples. Results of the muSR measurements show that standard cavity surface treatments like mild baking and buffered chemical polishing (BCP) performed on the studied samples affect their surface pinning strength. We find an interesting correlation between high field RF losses and field dependence of the sample magnetic volume fraction measured via muSR. The muSR line width observed in ZF-muSR measurements matches the behavior of Nb samples doped with minute amounts of Ta or N impurities. An upper bound for the upper critical field Hc2 of these cutouts is found.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figure

Superheating in coated niobium

Using muon spin rotation it is shown that the field of first flux penetration Hentry in Nb is enhanced by about 30% if coated with an overlayer of Nb3Sn or MgB2. This is consistent with an increase from the lower critical magnetic field Hc1 up to the superheating field Hsh of the Nb substrate. In the experiments presented here coatings of Nb3Sn and MgB2 with a thickness between 50 and 2000 nm have been tested. Hentry does not depend on material or thickness. This suggests that the energy barrier at the boundary between the two materials prevents flux entry up to Hsh of the substrate. A mechanism consistent with these findings is that the proximity effect recovers the stability of the energy barrier for flux penetration, which is suppressed by defects for uncoated samples. Additionally, a low temperature baked Nb sample has been tested. Here a 6% increase of Hentry was found, also pushing Hentry beyond Hc1

Coaxial multi-mode cavities for fundamental SRF research in an unprecedented parameter space

Recent developments in superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) research have focused primarily on high frequency elliptical cavities for electron accelerators. Advances have been made in both reducing RF surface resistance and pushing the readily achievable accelerating gradient by using novel SRF cavity treatments including surface processing, custom heat treatments, and flux expulsion. Despite the global demand for SRF based hadron accelerators, the advancement of TEM mode cavities has lagged behind. To address this, two purpose-built research cavities, one quarter-wave and one half-wave resonator, have been designed and built to allow characterization of TEM-mode cavities with standard and novel surface treatments. The cavities are intended as the TEM mode equivalent to the 1.3GHz single cell cavity, which is the essential tool for high frequency cavity research. Given their coaxial structure, the cavities allow testing at the fundamental mode and higher harmonics, giving unique insight into the role of RF frequency on fundamental loss mechanisms from intrinsic and extrinsic sources. In this paper, the cavities and testing infrastructure are described and the first performance measurements of both cavities are presented

Depth-resolved measurement of the Meissner screening profile in a niobium thin film from spin-lattice relaxation of the implanted β\beta-emitter 8^{8}Li

We report measurements of the Meissner screening profile in a Nb(300 nm)/Al$_{2}$O$_{3}$ thin film using $^{8}$Li $\beta$-detected nuclear magnetic resonance ($\beta$-NMR). The NMR probe $^{8}$Li was ion-implanted into the Nb film at energies $\leq$ 20 keV, corresponding to mean stopping depths comparable to Nb's magnetic penetration depth $\lambda$. $^{8}$Li's strong dipole-dipole coupling with the host $^{93}$Nb nuclei provided a "cross-relaxation" channel that dominated in low magnetic fields, which conferred indirect sensitivity to the local magnetic field via the spin-lattice relaxation (SLR) rate $1/T_{1}$. From a fit of the $1/T_{1}$ data to a model accounting for its dependence on temperature, magnetic field, and $^{8}$Li$^{+}$ implantation energy, we obtained a magnetic penetration depth $\lambda_{0}$ = 51.5(22) nm, consistent with a relatively short carrier mean-free-path $\ell$ = 18.7(29) nm typical of similarly prepared Nb films. The results presented here constitute an important step towards using $^{8}$Li $\beta$-NMR to characterize bulk Nb samples with engineered surfaces, which are often used in the fabrication of particle accelerators.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Key directions for research and development of superconducting radio frequency cavities

Radio frequency superconductivity is a cornerstone technology for many future HEP particle accelerators and experiments from colliders to proton drivers for neutrino facilities to searches for dark matter. While the performance of superconducting RF (SRF) cavities has improved significantly over the last decades, and the SRF technology has enabled new applications, the proposed HEP facilities and experiments pose new challenges. To address these challenges, the field continues to generate new ideas and there seems to be a vast room for improvements. In this paper we discuss the key research directions that are aligned with and address the future HEP needs.Comment: contribution to Snowmass 202

Shape coexistence and mixing of low-lying 0+ states in 96Sr

The low energy excited 02,3 + states in 96Sr are amongst the most prominent examples of shape coexistence across the nuclear landscape. In this work, the neutron [2s1/2]2 content of the 01,2,3 + states in 96Sr was determined by means of the d(95Sr, p) transfer reaction at the TRIUMF-ISAC2 facility using the SHARC and TIGRESS arrays. Spectroscopic factors of 0.19(3) and 0.22(3) were extracted for the 96Sr ground and 1229 keV 0+ states, respectively, by fitting the experimental angular distributions to DWBA reaction model calculations. A detailed analysis of the γ-decay of the isomeric 03 + state was used to determine a spectroscopic factor of 0.33(13). The experimental results are compared to shell model calculations, which predict negligible spectroscopic strength for the excited 0+ states in 96Sr. The strengths of the excited 02,3 + states were also analyzed within a two-level mixing model and are consistent with a mixing strength of a2=0.40(14) and a difference in intrinsic deformations of |Δβ|=0.31(3). These results suggest coexistence of three different configurations in 96Sr and strong shape mixing of the two excited 0+ states