Diagnostics and treatment of 1.3 GHz Nb cavities

The European XFEL and the International Linear Collider are based on superconducting rf cavities. In order to reach the theoretical gradient limits of the superconducting cavities it is necessary to increase the mechanical quality and chemical composition of the inner surface as well as to understand the reason for performance limitations. This work is based on the diagnosis of over 100 XFEL and HiGrade cavities whose performance was limited by several factors: field emission on dust or surface defects, low-field thermal breakdown caused by the defects, Q-slope etc. It was found that some defects were produced during the mechanical production of the cavity and were not removed by electro-chemical polishing, a standard processing technique of the inner cavity surface. On the other hand, some of the defects were produced during the electro-chemical polishing process as the surface initially had imperfections or inclusions of foreign material. One of the opportunities to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks is to replace the ''bulk'' electro-chemical polishing process by mechanical centrifugal barrel polishing. The parameters of the surface after each polishing step were studied using small samples, so called coupons. An undersurface layer was investigated using metallographic techniques and cross sectioning. The influence of centrifugal polishing on the specific parameters of a 9-cell cavity (field flatness, eccentricity etc.) was investigated. As a result, a single-step centrifugal barrel polishing process followed by a standard ''light'' electropolishing was proposed for industrial application. Although the performance-limiting mechanisms are understood in general, the origin of the quench of the cavity is often unclear. To determine the quench locations, a localisation tool for thermal breakdown using the ''second sound'' in superfluid helium has been used. All components of this tool were improved to increase the accuracy of the measurements. A new program code for quench localisation calculating the path of the second-sound wave was developed. This allows the signals from all sensors to be used, regardless of their position relative to the quench site. The new approach was validated using additional techniques such as a temperature mapping and an optical inspection of the inner cavity surface. Furthermore, a new multi-sensor for second-sound wave detection in the helium vessel of a cavity was developed and successfully tested on a serial-production XFEL cavity. The determined quench site location was confirmed by subsequent optical inspection. The algorithm localises the quench without mode measurements i.e. there is no need to dismount HOM-antennas which requires special procedures and must be performed in a clean-room. The mathematical approach described in this paper can be applied for second-sound tests of superconductive cavities of various shapes and dimensions.