Open Access Version

Abstract:
Superconducting RF cavities are used in modern particle accelerators to supply large accelerating gradients to high current beams at moderate power requirements. The material used for these cavities is of key importance, as power consumption and maximum accelerating gradient are determined by the material properties surface resistance and critical RF-field. Currently, bulk niobium is used as the cavity material of choice - compound superconductors such as Nb3Sn, NbN and MgB2 have greater theoretical potential however. Experiments to test the relevant superconducting material properties for small flat samples are in high demand by the community, as coating entire cavities is difficult and expensive. Furthermore being able to test the RF properties as a function of field, temperature, frequency and ambient magnetic field is important from a theoretical perspective. Within this work, the design, production and commissioning of an optimized Quadrupole Resonator is presented. A detailed characterization is shown for two niobium samples, demonstrating the measurement capabilities of the setup. Measurements at higher RF fields than previously achieved in comparable experiments are used to test two non-linear models describing the field dependent surface resistance.