Design and test of a superconducting structure for high-velocity ions

Abstract

Following the successful development of a niobium coaxial half-wave structure we have designed, built and tested a new half-wave geometry: the spoke resonator. This geometry is better suited for high frequency resonators and for the acceleration of high velocity ions. The prototype cavity is a 2-gap structure resonating at 855 MHz, and optimized for particle velocity of 0.30 c. It is easier to manufacture than the coaxial half-wave resonator and the geometry can be straightforwardly extended to multigap designs. Rf-tests have been performed on this cavity both prior to and after high temperature annealing. An accelerating gradient of 7.2 MV/m (cw) and 7.8 MV/m (pulsed) was observed at 4.2 K. After annealing, a low power Q{sub 0} of 1.2 {times}10{sup 8} was observed with small Q degradation due to field emission at high accelerating fields.