Influence of material parameters on the performance of niobium-based superconducting radiofrequency cavities

A detailed thermal analysis of a niobium (Nb)-based superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavity in a liquid helium bath is presented, by taking into account the temperature and magnetic field dependence of surface resistance and thermal conductivity in the superconducting state of the starting Nb material (for SRF cavity fabrication) with different impurity levels. The drop in SRF cavity quality factor (\(Q_{0}\)) in the high acceleration gradient regime (before the ultimate breakdown of the SRF cavity) is studied in detail. It is argued that the high-field \(Q_0\)-drop in SRF cavity is considerably influenced by the intrinsic material parameters such as electrical conductivity and thermal diffusivity. The detailed analysis reveals that the current specification on the purity of Nb material for SRF cavity fabrication is somewhat overspecified, as also inferred by the experimental work reported by some of the laboratories in the recent past. In line with these encouraging experimental results, in this paper, based on a rigorous calculation, we show that the Nb material with relatively low purity can very well serve the purpose for the accelerators dedicated for spallation neutron source (SNS) or accelerator-driven subcritical system (ADSS) applications, where the required accelerating gradient is typically up to \(20~\hbox {MV m}^{-1}\). This information will have important implication towards the cost reduction of superconducting technology-based particle accelerators for various applications. We think this theoretical work will be complementary to the experimental efforts performed in various laboratories at different corners of the globe.