NewsLine

Impersonating bulk niobium

Jefferson Laboratory scientists ionise niobium to make thin films that may outperform their bulkier sibling.

| 5 May 2011

Superconducting radiofrequency power only runs skin-deep, and accelerator scientists have been taking advantage of the phenomenon’s surface-crawling tendencies with a view to making high-performing, low-cost accelerator cavities. The trick is to manipulate a metal’s top-most layer so that it conducts just like a thick slab of superconducting material. Scientists at Jefferson Laboratory in the US […]

A conformal approach to cavity coating

Argonne scientists give metals a healthy superconducting coat, one atomic layer at a time.

| 28 April 2011

A necklace of cheap metal with gold-flaked paint may look like solid gold finery, but eventually, the paint will peel, revealing a worthless trinket beneath. But an accelerator cavity of inexpensive metal with a nice niobium coat, though less expensive than a solid niobium structure, could actually hold more value for a particle collider. Scientists […]

The sound of accelerator cavities

Liquid helium’s curious properties help scientists focus on cavity defects.

| 21 April 2011

Heat waves aren’t always a bad thing. For scientists working on accelerator cavities, they provide a simple way to locate hard-to-see surface defects, which can turn an otherwise superconducting cavity into a dud. Cornell University’s second-sound detection system homes in on a cavity defect, such as a pit hiding in the cavity wall, by tracking […]

A robot to watch out for defects

Automated cavity inspection makes progress at DESY

| 14 April 2011

If you have bought a digital camera recently, you probably enjoyed the new ‘smile detection’ feature that many new cameras are equipped with. It works like this: you set the camera to smile detection mode and point it at somebody. The camera recognises faces and as soon as the face smiles, snap – it takes […]