RF Characterization of Novel Superconducting Materials and Multilayers

Cutting edge SRF technology is likely approaching the fundamental limitations of niobium cavities operating in the Meissner state. This combined with the obvious advantages of using higher critical temperature superconductors and thin film depositions leads to interest in the RF characterization of such materials. A TE mode niobium sample host cavity was used to characterize the RF performance of 5" (12.7 cm) diameter sample plates as a function of field and temperature at 4 GHz. Materials studied include MgB2 and thin film atomic layer deposition (ALD) NbN and NbTiN on Nb substrates. These higher critical temperature superconductors all have coherence lengths on the order of a few nm. It is therefore likely that defects on the order of the coherence lengths will cause early flux penetration well before the theorized superheating field of an ideal superconducting surface. Superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) multilayers have been proposed as a mechanism of arresting these early penetration flux avalanches and are therefore studied here as well, using the same NbN and NbTiN films, but over thin layers of insulating AlN on Nb substrates.