In superconducting radio frequency accelerators, niobium-coated copper cavities could provide a lower cost, superior performance alternative to bulk niobium cavities, if the limitations of the current deposition process could be eliminated. This project will develop an alternative deposition process that not only does not suffer from these limitations, it also provides the range of condensation energy required. In Phase I, small niobium coated copper samples will be prepared and tested to verify the performance of the proposed process in cavity applications. Phase II will produce and test complete superconducting RF cavities.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The new deposition process should significantly lower the cost of superconducting RF accelerators by providing lower cost cavities with superior performance. Such devices are used in accelerators for high energy and nuclear physics research and in Free Electron Lasers, which have applications in the fields of medicine, industrial processing, research, and defense
