Author: Singaravelu, S.
Paper Title Page
THPO073 Laser Melt Smoothing of Niobium Superconducting Radio-Frequency Cavity Surfaces 917
 
  • S. Singaravelu, M.J. Kelley, J.M. Klopf, G.A. Krafft
    JLAB, Newport News, Virginia, USA
  • C. Xu
    The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, USA
 
  Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) niobium cavities are at the heart of an increasing number of particle accelerators. Their performance is dominated by a several nm thick layer at the interior surface. Maximizing the smoothness of this surface is critical and aggressive chemical treatments are now employed to this end. We describe laser-induced surface melting as an alternative “greener” approach. Modeling predicts the surface temperature as a function of per-pulse energy density. Guided selection of laser parameters achieves melting that reduces the surface roughness and may also mitigate surface damage from the fabrication process. The resulting topography was examined by SEM, and AFM. PSD spectra computed from AFM data were used for studying the topography of the treated niobium.