Mechanical optimization of superconducting cavities in continuous wave operation

Abstract

Several planned accelerator facilities call for hundreds of elliptical cavities operating cw with low effective beam loading, and therefore require cavities that have been mechanically optimized to operate at high Q_{L} by minimizing df/dp, the sensitivity to microphonics detuning from fluctuations in helium pressure. Without such an optimization, the facilities would suffer either power costs driven up by millions of dollars or an extremely high per-cavity trip rate. ANSYS simulations used to predict df/dp are presented as well as a model that illustrates factors that contribute to this parameter in elliptical cavities. For the Cornell Energy Recovery Linac (ERL) main linac cavity, df/dp is found to range from 2.5 to 17.4 Hz/mbar, depending on the radius of the stiffening rings, with minimal df/dp for very small or very large radii. For the Cornell ERL injector cavity, simulations predict a df/dp of 124 Hz/mbar, which fits well within the range of measurements performed with the injector cryomodule. Several methods for reducing df/dp are proposed, including decreasing the diameter of the tuner bellows and increasing the stiffness of the enddishes and the tuner. Using measurements from a Tesla Test Facility cavity as the baseline, if both of these measures were implemented and the stiffening rings were optimized, simulations indicate that df/dp would be reduced from ∼30 Hz/mbar to just 2.9 Hz/mbar, and the power required to maintain the accelerating field would be reduced by an order of magnitude. Finally, other consequences of optimizing the stiffening ring radius are investigated. It is found that stiffening rings larger than 70% of the iris-equator distance make the cavity impossible to tune. Small rings, on the other hand, leave the cavity susceptible to plastic deformation during handling and have lower frequency mechanical resonances, which is undesirable for active compensation of microphonics. Additional simulations of Lorentz force detuning are discussed, and the results are compared to measurements on the ERL injector cavities.