Recently, Nb superconducting radio frequency cavities vacuum heat treated between 300-400 C for a few hours have exhibited very high quality factors (~5x10^10 at 2.0 K). New secondary ion mass spectrometry measurements of O, N and C show this enhancement in RF surface conductivity is primarily associated with interstitial O alloying via dissolution and diffusion of the native oxide. We use a theory of oxide decomposition and O diffusion to quantify previously unknown parameters crucial in modeling this process. RF measurements of a vacuum heat treated Nb superconducting radio frequency cavity confirm the minimized surface resistance (higher Q0) previously expected only from 800 C diffusive alloying with N.
@article{arxiv.2106.06647,
title = {RF surface resistance tuning of superconducting niobium via thermal diffusion of native oxide},
author = {Eric Lechner and Jonathan Angle and Fred Stevie and Michael Kelley and Charles Reece and Ari Palczewski},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2106.06647},
year = {2021}
}