Influence of Furnace Baking on Q-E Behavior of Superconducting Accelerating Cavities

Abstract

Abstract The performance of superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities depends on the niobium surface condition. Recently, various heat-treatment methods have been investigated to achieve unprecedented high quality factor (Q) and high accelerating field (E). We report the influence of a new baking process called furnace baking on the Q-E behavior of 1.3 GHz SRF cavities. Furnace baking is performed as the final step of the cavity surface treatment; the cavities are heated in a vacuum furnace for 3 h, followed by high-pressure rinsing and radio-frequency measurement. This method is simpler and potentially more reliable than previously reported heat-treatment methods, and it is therefore, easier to apply to the SRF cavities. We find that the quality factor is increased after furnace baking at temperatures ranging from 300 °C to 400 °C, while strong decreasing the quality factor at high accelerating field is observed after furnace baking at temperatures ranging from 600 °C to 800 °C. We find significant differences in the surface resistance for various processing temperatures.