Surface resistance effects of medium temperature baking of buffered chemical polished 1.3 GHz nine-cell large-grain cavities

Abstract

Three 1.3 GHz nine-cell large-grain superconducting niobium cavities were investigated with medium-temperature baking, using buffered chemical polishing to remove the impurity profiles from previous heat treatments. The average intrinsic quality factor in 2 K vertical tests of the cavities was 2.7 × 1010 at 16 MV m−1 with maximum accelerating gradients of 20–22 MV m−1. These promising values confirmed the effectiveness of an improved medium-temperature baking recipe for niobium cavities, beneficial for superconducting radiofrequency applications. Furthermore, resistance analysis demonstrated that medium-temperature baking reduced both the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) resistance and the residual resistance of the cavities. Impurity analysis on niobium samples provided some proof that the reduction in BCS resistance was due to the shortened electron mean free path while the reduction in residual resistance was probably associated with mitigation of the increase in interstitial impurity atoms.