Road Map for Studies to Produce Consistent and High Performance SRF Accelerator Structures

Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) accelerator structures made from high purity niobium are becoming the technological choice for a large number of future accelerators and energy recovery LINAC's (ERL). Most of the presently planned accelerators and ERL requirements will be met with some effort by the current SRF technology where accelerating gradients of about 20 MV/m can be produced on a routine basis with an acceptable yield. However, the XFEL at DESY and the planned ILC require acceleration gradients more than 28 MV/m and 35 MV/m respectively. At the recent ILC meeting at Snowmass (2005) concern was expressed regarding the wide spread in the achieved accelerator gradients and the relatively low yields. For obtaining accelerating gradients of 35 MV/m in SRF accelerator structures consistently, a deeper understanding of the causes for the spread has to be gained and advances have to be made in many scientific and high technology fields, including materials, surface and vacuum sciences, application of reliable processes and procedures, which provide contamination -free surfaces and avoid recontamination and cryogenics related technologies. In this contribution a road map for studies needed to produce consistent and high performance SRF accelerator structures from the needed materials development to clean and non-recontaminating processes and procedures will be presented.