Tests with superconducting re-entrant cavities for transducer applications in gravitational wave detectors

Abstract

We studied the niobium re-entrant cavity utilized by the Australian group in the Niobe gravitational wave detector. Instead of using their non-contact re-entrant cavity, we plan to change it to a closed one to be used in the parametric transducers of the Brazilian Mario Schenberg detector. The performance of the transducer depends on some cavity parameters such as the electrical Q and the electrical coupling. We measured the resonant frequency and the loaded electrical Q as a function of the probe position in a closed niobium ~15 GHz cavity operating at 4.2 K.