Development of an advanced electropolishing setup for multicell high gradient niobium cavities

Abstract

Reproducible operation at high performances of superconducting cavities is required for linear accelerators. High beta elliptical cavities are thus of concern and, to achieve required performances for such resonators, surface preparation including electropolishing is recommended. We have designed and operate a setup for electropolishing in the vertical position of multicell cavities in order to: (i) obtain high yield with large elliptical cavities for Superconducting Linac (SPL) or European Spallation Source projects; (ii) develop a reference installation demonstrating that this process is appropriate for the large scale treatment of cavities in industry. The setup described here is the first one able to electropolish vertically multicell cavities with circulating acid and high safety standards. This equipment makes it possible to use a wide range of parameters such as voltage, acid flow rate, temperature, and nitrogen injection with an R&D purpose in mind. Optimization is studied using modeling with COMSOL software for different cavities. As examples, we present some results for the 704 MHz high-beta SPL cavity and the 1300 MHz International Linear Collider cavity and show the influence of cathode shape on both acid flow and electric field distribution during the process. Importance of the size of the cavity and first results achieved on single-cell and nine-cell cavities will be discussed.