Superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) accelerating cavities are a promising technology for compact, high-power, MeV-scale accelerators, providing continuous beam operation for a wide range of potential applications in industry, medicine, national security, and science. However, SRF cavities have traditionally been cooled using complex and expensive cryogenic infrastructure, which has been a significant obstacle in employing this powerful technology in small-scale systems. With the recent progress on high-performance Nb3Sn-coated SRF cavities and the introduction of cryocoolers, which can provide turn-key style conduction cooling below 4.2 K, this barrier can now be overcome. At Cornell University, we have developed a prototype setup that utilizes a commercial cryocooler to provide the necessary cooling for operation of a 2.6 GHz Nb3Sn-coated SRF cavity. We have now demonstrated first stable operation in continuous mode at accelerating fields up to 10 MV/m with a quality factor of Q0 = 4x109, thereby achieving an important milestone in making turn-key SRF a reality.
@article{arxiv.2002.11755,
title = {Stable CW Operation of Nb$_3$Sn SRF Cavity at 10 MV/m using Conduction Cooling},
author = {Neil Stilin and Adam Holic and Matthias Liepe and Ryan Porter and James Sears},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2002.11755},
year = {2020}
}