[en] Development of solenoid-based focusing lenses for the transport channel of an R and D linac front end at FNAL (HINS linac) is in its final stage. Superconducting lenses for the room temperature RF section of the linac are assembled into individual cryostats and certified using a dedicated test stand. During this certification process, the optical axis of each lens relative to the cryogenic vessel is found in the warm and cold state. Lenses for the superconducting RF sections are ready for production, and development of a cryomodule (which contains multiple superconducting lenses and RF cavities) is in progress. Studies have been conducted to measure fringe magnetic field of a lens in the cryomodule, to investigate a laser-based method of alignment, and to evaluate the extent of beam quality degradation due to imperfections in lens construction and alignment. This report presents some results of these studies.

[en] SRF cavity quality factors can be accurately measured using RF-power based techniques only when the cavity is very close to critically coupled. This limitation is from systematic errors driven by non-ideal RF components. When the cavity is not close to critically coupled, these systematic effects limit the accuracy of the measurements. The combination of the complex base-band envelopes of the cavity RF signals in combination with a trombone in the circuit allow the relative calibration of the RF signals to be extracted from the data and systematic effects to be characterized and suppressed. The improved calibration allows accurate measurements to be made over a much wider range of couplings. Demonstration of these techniques during testing of a single-spoke resonator with a coupling factor of near 7 will be presented, along with recommendations for application of these techniques.

[en] Recent coordination of thermometry with optical images has shown that obvious defects at specific locations produce heat or even quench superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities, imposing a significant limit on the overall accelerating gradient produced by the cavity. Characterization of the topography at such locations provides clues about how the defects originated, from which schemes for their prevention might be devised. Topographic analyses also provide understanding of the electromagnetic mechanism by which defects limit cavity performance, from which viability of repair techniques might be assessed. In this article we discuss how a variety of two-component silicone-based room-temperature vulcanizing agents can be routinely used to make replicas of the cavity surface and extract topographic details of cavity defects. Previously, this level of detail could only be obtained by cutting suspect regions from the cavity, thus destroying the cavity. We show 3-D profiles extracted from several different 1.3 GHz cavities. The defect locations, which were all near cavity welds, compelled us to develop extraction techniques for both equator and iris welds as well as from deep inside long 9-cell cavities. Profilometry scans of the replicas yield micrometer-scale information, and we describe various curious features, such as small peaks at the bottom of pits, which were not apparent in previous optical inspections. We also discuss contour information in terms of electromagnetic mechanisms proposed by others for local cavity heating. We show that production of the replica followed by high-pressure rinsing dose not adversely affect the cavity RF performance.

[en] The High Intensity Neutrino Source (HINS) project represents the current effort at Fermilab to produce an 8-GeV proton linac based on 400 independently phased superconducting cavities. Eighteen ?=0.21 single spoke resonators, operating at 325 MHz, comprise the first stage of the linac cold section. In this paper we present the current status of the production and testing of the first two prototype cavities. This includes descriptions of the fabrication, frequency tuning, chemical polishing, high pressure rinse, and high-gradient cold tests

[en] We describe the first continuous-wave (CW) measurements of the upward-going temperature wave in the self-organized-critical (SOC) state which forms in 4He under conditions of downward heat flow near Tλ under gravity. The CW technique permits measurements with extremely low (<1 nK) excitation amplitudes, allows continuous measurement of the wave velocity as the SOC state grows, and has yielded the first quantitative measurements of the attenuation. The CW measurements appear to support predictions for the velocity but disagree with predictions for the attenuation. This new technique may help us understand the underlying mechanism of the SOC state

[en] Eddy current scanning (ECS) has been used to screen niobium sheets to avoid defective material being used in costly cavity fabrication. The evaluation criterion of this quality control tool is not well understood. Past surface studies showed some features were shallow enough to be removed by chemical etching. The remaining features were identified to be small number of deeper inclusions, but mostly unidentifiable features (by chemical analysis). A real cavity made of defective niobium material has been tested. The cavity achieved high performance with comparable results to the cavities made from defect free cavities. Temperature mapping could help to define the control standard clearly.

[en] We report a strong effect of the cooling dynamics through T_c 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 120 °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

[en] 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 Q > 2 × 10¹¹ up to accelerating gradient of 22 MV/m; (2) Q ∼ 3 × 10¹⁰ at 2 K 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

[en] Recent coordination of thermometry with optical images has shown that obvious defects at specific locations produce heat or even quench superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities, imposing a significant limit on the overall accelerating gradient produced by the cavity. Characterization of the topography at such locations provides clues about how the defects originated, from which schemes for their prevention might be devised. Topographic analyses also provide understanding of the electromagnetic mechanism by which defects limit cavity performance, from which viability of repair techniques might be assessed. In this paper we discuss how a variety of two-component silicone-based room-temperature vulcanizing agents can be routinely used to make replicas of the cavity surface and extract topographic details of cavity defects. Previously, this level of detail could only be obtained by cutting suspect regions from the cavity, thus destroying the cavity. We show 3D profiles extracted from several different 1.3 GHz cavities. The defect locations, which were all near cavity welds, compelled us to develop extraction techniques for both equator and iris welds as well as from deep inside long 9-cell cavities. Profilometry scans of the replicas yield micrometre-scale information, and we describe various curious features, such as small peaks at the bottoms of pits, which were not apparent in previous optical inspections. We also discuss contour information in terms of electromagnetic mechanisms proposed by others for local cavity heating. We show that production of the replica followed by high-pressure rinsing does not adversely affect the cavity RF performance.

[en] Project-X, a multi-MW proton source, is now under development at Fermilab. In this paper we present study of high order modes (HOM) excited in continues-wave (CW) superconducting linac of Project-X. We investigate effects of cryogenic losses caused by HOMs and influence of HOMs on beam dynamics. We find that these effects are small. We conclude that HOM couplers/dampers are not needed in the Project-X SC RF cavities