Laser polishing of niobium for SRF applications

Conference · Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013

OSTI ID:1164416

Zhao, Liang; Klopf, J. Michael ^[1]; Reece, Charles E. ^[1]; Kelley, Michael ^[2]

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1. JLAB
2. W&M

Smooth interior surfaces are desired for niobium SRF cavities, now obtained by buffered chemical polish (BCP) and/or electropolish (EP). Laser polishing is a potential alternative, having advantages of speed, freedom from chemistry and in-process inspection. Here we show that laser polishing can produce smooth topography with Power Spectral Density (PSD) measurements similar to that obtained by EP. We studied the influence of the laser power density and laser beam raster rate on the surface topography. These two factors need to be combined carefully to smooth the surface without damaging it. Computational modeling was used to simulate the surface temperature and explain the mechanism of laser polishing.

• Research Organization: Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), Newport News, VA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-06OR23177
• OSTI ID: 1164416
• Report Number(s): JLAB-ACC-13-1798; DOE/OR/23177-2771
• Resource Relation: Conference: SRF 2013, 23-27 Sept 2013. Paris, France
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English