Advanced surface treatments for medium-velocity superconducting cavities for high-accelerating gradient continuous-wave operation
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Abstract A series of experiments were carried out in an effort to develop a simple method for predicting the magnetic flux expulsion behavior of high purity niobium used to fabricate superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities. Using conventional metallographic characterizations in conjunction with high spatial resolution electron backscattered diffraction-orientation imaging microscopy, we find that the flux expulsion behavior of 1.3 GHz single cell SRF Nb cavities is significantly associated with the grain growth of the Nb material during heat treatment. Most of the Nb grains rapidly grew during 900 °C heat treatment, and were likely full-recrystallized with 1000 °C HT. When compared to the magnetic flux expulsion ratio ( B sc / B nc ) at Δ T = 5 K, the flux expulsion efficiency of the cavities increases with the increase of grain size. Most interestingly, 900 °C HT shows a roughly linear trend that suggests that this criterion could be used to predict the appropriate heat treatment temperature for sufficient flux expulsion behavior in SRF-grade Nb. This result can be used to see if flux expulsion can be predicted by examining the materials coming from Nb vendors, prior to cavity fabrication.
Medium temperature baking (300- 350 °C) enhances the quality factor of niobium superconducting radio frequency cavities. However, surface contamination introduced during vacuum furnace baking limits the quench field and may also degrade the quality factor of the cavity. To investigate this effect, a 1.3 GHz single-cell Nb cavity underwent mid-T baking, followed by a chemical treatment to remove the surface contaminants. Post-treatment measurements revealed a significant improvement in both the quality factor and the quench field.
We have used the new 90GHz MUSTANG camera on the Robert C. Green Bank Telescope (GBT)to map the bright Huygens region of the star-forming region M42 with a resolution of 9" and a sensitivity of 2.8 mJy/beam. Ninety GHz is an interesting transition frequency, as MUSTANG detects both the free-free emission characteristic of the H II region created by the Trapezium stars, normally seen at lower frequencies, and thermal dust emission from the background OMCI molecular cloud, normally mapped at higher frequencies. We also present similar data from the 150 GHz GISMO camera taken on the IRAM 30 m telescope. This map has 15" resolution. By combining the MUSTANG data with 1.4, 8. and 31 GHz radio data from the VLA and GBT, we derive a new estimate of the emission measure averaged electron temperature of T(sub e) = 11376+/-1050 K by an original method relating free-free emission intensities at optically thin and optically thick frequencies. Combining Infrared Space Observatory-long wavelength spectrometer (ISO-LWS) data with our data, we derive a new estimate of the dust temperature and spectral emissivity index within the 80" ISO-LWS beam toward Orion KL/BN, T(sub d) = 42+/-3 K and Beta(sub d) = 1.3+/-0.1. We show that both T(sub d) and Beta(sub d) decrease when going from the H II region and excited OMCI interface to the denser UV shielded part OMCI (Orion KL/BN, Orion S). With a model consisting of only free-free and thermal dust emission, we are able to fit data taken at frequencies from 1.5 GHz to 854 GHz (350 micrometers).
One of the primary sources of radio frequency residual losses leading to lower quality factor is trapped residual magnetic field during the cooldown of superconducting radio frequency cavities. It has been reported that non-uniform recrystallization of niobium cavities after the post fabrication heat treatment leads to higher flux trapping during the cooldown, and hence the lower quality factor. Here, we fabricated two 1.3 GHz single cell cavities from high purity fine grain niobium and processed with successive heat treatments in the range 800-1000 ?C to measure the flux expulsion and flux trapping sensitivity. The results show the improved flux expulsion with increase in heat treatment temperature and flux trapping sensitivity depends on the final surface preparation prior to the rf test.
Pulsed SRF linacs with high accelerating gradients experience large frequency shifts caused by Lorentz force detuning (LFD). A piezoelectric actuator with a resonance control algorithm can maintain the cavity frequency at the nominal level, thus reducing the RF power. This study uses a double lever tuner with a piezoelectric actuator for compensation and another piezoelectric actuator to simulate the effects of the Lorentz force pulse. A double lever tuner has an advantage by increasing the stiffness of the cavity-tuner system, thus reducing the impact of LFD. The tests are conducted at room temperature and with a dressed 1.3 GHz 9-cell cavity.
Microwave fiberoptic transmission system provides numerous advantages for satellite communications terminals and antenna remoting. This paper described a 1.3-micron, 6-15 GHz, 1-km fiberoptic system design and performance. The microwave characteristics of the laser diode photodetector are discussed in detail. The preliminary measured system signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) are 110-120 dB/Hz in the frequency range of 6-15 GHz. A 20 to 30 dB SNR improvement is achievable when coherent detection and PD impedance matching are employed.
Axion dark matter can satisfy the conditions needed to account for all of the dark matter and solve the strong 𝐶𝑃 problem. The Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX) is a direct dark matter search using a haloscope to convert axions to photons in an external magnetic field. Key to this conversion is the use of a microwave resonator that enhances the sensitivity at the frequency of interest. The ADMX experiment boosts its sensitivity using a dilution refrigerator and near quantum-limited amplifier to reduce the noise level in the experimental apparatus. In the most recent run, ADMX searched for axions between 1.10 and 1.31 GHz to extended Kim-Shifman-Vainshtein-Zakharov sensitivity. This Letter reports on the results of that run, as well as unique aspects of this experimental setup.
Precise measurements of cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization require rigorous control of instrumental systematics. For the South Pole Telescope's third-generation camera (SPT-3G), which observes in three bands centered near 95, 150, and 220 GHz, accurate beam characterization is critical for interpreting the polarized mm-wave sky. We present direct measurements of SPT-3G's polarized beam response from observations of 100 bright extragalactic point sources. Previous SPT-3G power spectrum analyses introduced a phenomenological parameter, $β_{\rm pol}$, to describe the polarization preserved in beam sidelobes, and found evidence for significant depolarization from the requirement of inter-frequency polarization power spectrum consistency. Our direct measurements yield $β_{\rm pol}=0.89\pm0.10$ at 95 GHz, $1.08\pm0.10$ at 150 GHz, and $0.90\pm0.22$ at 220 GHz, indicating minimal sidelobe depolarization. We validate these results with systematic tests of posterior sampling versus bootstrap resampling, real-space versus Fourier-space analysis, temperature-to-polarization leakage handling, covariance determination, and source selection. Compared to values inferred from previous cosmological analyses, our results differ by an effective $1.3σ$. This apparent discrepancy is model dependent, because the point source analysis derives much of its $β_{\rm pol}$ constraining power from higher multipoles than the power spectrum analysis. These measurements therefore admit three explanations for the frequency-dependent residuals observed in the power spectrum analysis: a statistical fluctuation, the need for more sophisticated polarized beam models, or systematics other than beam depolarization.
Understanding how the ligand shell controls low-frequency electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopic properties of metal ions is essential if they are to be used in EPR-based bioimaging schemes. In this work, we probe how specific variations in the ligand structure impact L-band (ca. 1.3 GHz) EPR spectroscopic linewidths in the trichloride salts of five Cr(III) complexes: [Cr(RR-dphen) 3 ] 3+ (RR-dphen = (1R,2R)-(+)-diphenylethylenediamine, 1), [Cr(en) 3 ] 3+ (en = ethylenediamine, 2), [Cr(me-en) 3 ] 3+ (me-en = 1,2-diaminopropane, 3), [Cr(tn) 3 ] 3+ (tn = 1,3-diaminopropane, 4) [Cr(trans-chxn) 3 ] 3+ (trans-chxn = trans-(±)-1,2-diaminocyclohexane, 5). Spectral broadening varies in a nonintuitive manner across the series, showing the sharpest peaks for 1 and broadest for 5. Molecular dynamics simulations provide evidence that the broadening is correlated to rigidity in the inner coordination sphere and reflected in ligand-dependent distribution of Cr–N bond distances that can be found in frozen solution.
Over the last decade much attention was given in increasing the quality factor of superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities by impurity doping. Prior to the era of doping, the final cavity processing technique to achieve the high accelerating gradient includes the ?in situ? low temperature baking of SRF cavities at temperature ~ 120 oC for several hours. Here, we present the results of a series of measurements on 1.3 GHz TESLA shape single-cell cavities with successive low temperature baking at 120 oC up to 96 hours. The experimental data were analyzed with available theory of superconductivity to elucidate the effect of the duration of low temperature baking on the superconducting properties of cavity materials as well as the rf performance. In addition, the rf loss related to the trapping of residual magnetic field refereed as flux trapping sensitivity was measured with respect to the duration of 120 oC bake.
SEU from heavy-ions is measured for SOI PowerPC microprocessors. Results for 0.13 micron PowerPC with 1.1V core voltages increases over 1.3V versions. This suggests that improvement in SEU for scaled devices may be reversed. In recent years there has been interest in the possible use of unhardened commercial microprocessors in space because of their superior performance compared to hardened processors. However, unhardened devices are susceptible to upset from radiation space. More information is needed on how they respond to radiation before they can be used in space. Only a limited number of advanced microprocessors have been subjected to radiation tests, which are designed with lower clock frequencies and higher internal core voltage voltages than recent devices [1-6]. However the trend for commercial Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) microprocessors is to reduce feature size and internal core voltage and increase the clock frequency. Commercial microprocessors with the PowerPC architecture are now available that use partially depleted SOI processes with feature size of 90 nm and internal core voltage as low as 1.0 V and clock frequency in the GHz range. Previously, we reported SEU measurements for SOI commercial PowerPCs with feature size of 0.18 and 0.13 m [7, 8]. The results showed an order of magnitude reduction in saturated cross section compared to CMOS bulk counterparts. This paper examines SEUs in advanced commercial SOI microprocessors, focusing on SEU sensitivity of D-Cache and hangs with feature size and internal core voltage. Results are presented for the Motorola SOI processor with feature sizes of 0.13 microns and internal core voltages of 1.3 and 1.1 V. These results are compared with results for the Motorola SOI processors with feature size of 0.18 microns and internal core voltage of 1.6 and 1.3 V.
Cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarimeters aspire to measure the faint B-mode signature predicted to arise from inflationary gravitational waves. They also have the potential to constrain cosmic birefringence, rotation of the polarization of the CMB arising from parity-violating physics, which would produce nonzero expectation values for the CMB's temperature to B-mode correlation (TB) and E-mode to B-mode correlation (EB) spectra. However, instrumental systematic effects can also cause these TB and EB correlations to be nonzero. In particular, an overall miscalibration of the polarization orientation of the detectors produces TB and EB spectra which are degenerate with isotropic cosmological birefringence, while also introducing a small but predictable bias on the BB spectrum. We find that BICEP1 three-year spectra, which use our standard calibration of detector polarization angles from a dielectric sheet, are consistent with a polarization rotation of alpha = −2.77deg +/- 0.86deg (statistical) +/- 1.3deg (systematic). We have revised the estimate of systematic error on the polarization rotation angle from the two-year analysis by comparing multiple calibration methods. We also account for the (negligible) impact of measured beam systematic effects. We investigate the polarization rotation for the BICEP1 100 GHz and 150 GHz bands separately to investigate theoretical models that produce frequency-dependent cosmic birefringence. We find no evidence in the data supporting either of these models or Faraday rotation of the CMB polarization by the Milky Way galaxy's magnetic field. If we assume that there is no cosmic birefringence, we can use the TB and EB spectra to calibrate detector polarization orientations, thus reducing bias of the cosmological B-mode spectrum from leaked E-modes due to possible polarization orientation miscalibration. After applying this "self-calibration" process, we find that the upper limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio decreases slightly, from r < 0.70 to r < 0.65 at 95% confidence.
In 2022, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) used the Accelerated and Real-Time Environmental Nodal Assessment (ARENA) cable and motor test bed to characterize spread spectrum time domain reflectometry (SSTDR) and compare the responses of an SSTDR instrument to those of a frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) instrument. Results showed both techniques could detect and locate cable anomalies such as phase-to-phase low resistance and shorts, thermal insulation damage, mechanical insulation damage, and the presence or absence of water in some conditions. The SSTDR tests used a commercial instrument provided by LiveWire Innovations Inc. This commercial instrument performed tests at 6, 12, 24, and 48 MHz bandwidth. The results of these tests were compared to FDR tests where bandwidths could be extended up to 1.3 GHz, although the best responses for cable tests were from 100 to 500 MHz. Lower bandwidth signals can propagate better along the cable while higher bandwidths have higher resolution for impedance change reflections allowing more precise indication of location and separation of anomalies. The 2022 research found that FDR responses were clearer than SSTDR and speculated that a higher bandwidth SSTDR could more successfully detect and locate cable anomalies. One advantage of the SSTDR system investigated was that it was designed for energized online use up to 1,000 volts, which may be a significant advantage for nuclear power plant use. The LiveWire SSTDR instrument is an established product in the rail and aircraft industry and updating the SSTDR hardware parameters is difficult to justify without more conclusive testing. Therefore, a software adjustable laboratory SSTDR instrument was developed by PNNL and was used to test extended bandwidth SSTDR cable tests. Within the ARENA test bed, 42 cable conditions were tested with the PNNL SSTDR, FDR, and the LiveWire SSTDR—each operating at four different bandwidths. Observations and conclusions regarding the relative performance of the three instruments over different bandwidths are note below. Responses of the PNNL SSTDR (at 50 MHz) and the LiveWire SSTDR (at 48 MHz) were similar. The PNNL SSTDR higher frequency bandwidths behaved as expected showing sharper peaks and higher noise. This validated the PNNL SSTDR as a reasonable implementation of the SSTDR technology. Lower bandwidth SSTDR responses (particularly 6 and 12 MHz) may have increased value for use within longer cables but were not particularly effective at identifying anomalous cable behavior in the 100 ft cables tested here. The higher bandwidths of the PNNL SSTDR (50, 100, 200, and 400 MHz) did not provide substantially clearer cable reflectometry responses, but having the higher frequency responses available did add to the cable test evaluation. Strong responses to shorts and low impedance faults between phases were particularly evident in the higher bandwidth PNNL SSTDR and the FDR data. Measurements were repeatable, with similar responses obtained from a thermally aged cable for tests taken a month apart. Signal noise was affected in the unshielded cable by the local in-tray cable arrangement including proximity to metal edges and rungs of the cable tray. Foam isolation of the cable from the tray metal reduced in both FDR and SSTDR responses. Cable condition monitoring in nuclear power plants will likely benefit from both more informative off-line testing methods and from the development of on-line methods for continuous monitoring of cables in use. The LWRS-funded ARENA test bed was a valuable resource for this development and direct comparison of nuclear electrical cable condition monitoring technologies. Test results are targeted to guide industry advancement of testing and monitoring tools for cable aging management.
The dark photon is a hypothesized particle in extension to the Standard Model (SM) that would weakly interact with ordinary SM photons. An effective way to search for hidden sector photons in a laboratory set up is through light-shining-through-wall (LSW) schemes.We present here the first results of Dark SRF, a LSW experiment that leverages ultra-high quality factor superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities to search for dark photons. The use of Nb SRF cavities combined with a strict calibration and measurement protocol increased sensitivity to dark photons by several orders of magnitude compared to other LSW experiments, as demonstrated by our new exclusion limit on the dark photon mixing angle.In addition to the results of the search conducted in liquid helium using 1.3GHz SRF cavities, we also present the first steps of the second phase of the experiment, which will take place in a dilution refrigerator using 2.6GHz SRF cavities.
A quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) insulator breaks reciprocity by combining magnetic polarization and spin-orbit coupling to generate a unidirectional transmission of signals in the absence of an external magnetic field. Such behavior makes QAH materials a good platform for the innovation of circulator technologies. However, it remains elusive as to how the wavelength of the chiral edge plasmon relates to its frequency and how the plasmon wave packet is excited in the time domain in a QAH insulator. Here, we investigate the edge magnetoplasmon (EMP) resonances in Cr-(Bi,Sb) 2 Te 3 by frequency and time domain measurements. From disk shaped samples with various dimensions, we obtain the dispersion relation of EMPs and extract the drift velocity of the chiral edge state. From the time-resolved transport measurements, we identify the velocity of the plasmon wave packet and observe a transition from the edge to bulk transport at an elevated temperature. We show that the frequency and time domain measurements are well modeled by loss from the microwave induced dissipative channels in the bulk area. Our results demonstrate that the EMP decay rate can be significantly reduced by applying a low microwave power and fabricating devices of larger diameter ≥ 100 µ m . In a R = 125 µ m sample, a nonreciprocity of 20 dB has been realized at 1.3 GHz, shining light on using QAH insulators to develop on-chip nonreciprocal devices. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
We present here the first results of Dark SRF, a light-shining-through-wall (LSW) experiment that leverages ultra-high quality factor superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities to search for dark photons. The use of Nb SRF cavities combined with a strict calibration and measurement protocol increased sensitivity to dark photons by several orders of magnitude compared to other LSW experiments, as demonstrated by our new limit that excluded a broad range of previously unstudied dark photon mass and mixing angle.In addition to the results of the search conducted in liquid helium using 1.3GHz SRF cavities, we also present the first steps of the second phase of the experiment, which will take place in a dilution refrigerator using 2.6GHz SRF cavities. These experiments are part of a wider effort of the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems (SQMS) Center to employ ultra-high Q SRF cavities to search for Beyond the SM particles and wavelike dark matter.
Superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities are the leading technology for highly efficient particle acceleration, and their performance can be significantly enhanced through the controlled introduction of interstitial impurities into bulk niobium. Nitrogen doping has demonstrated a substantial reduction in surface resistance, which improves the quality factor of the cavities. More recently, oxygen doping has emerged as a promising alternative, demonstrating comparable reductions in surface resistance. In this study, we combine cavity measurements on 1.3 GHz niobium SRF cavities subjected to a range of nitrogen- and oxygen-based treatments with material characterizations performed on cavity cutouts processed under identical conditions. This approach allows us to quantitatively assess the contribution of each impurity to the reduction of surface resistance. We find that nitrogen is ten times more effective than oxygen in reducing surface resistance at 16 MV/m. We also observe an additive effect of O and N impurities in reducing RT. We discuss these results in the context of field-dependent nonequilibrium superconductivity, gap enhancement, and hydrogen trapping mechanisms.