Study of Nb-Cu 1.3 GHz SRF cavity resonators for future particle accelerators

Niobium-coated superconducting radio-frequency cavities have a number of advantages over cavities made from bulk niobium. Cavities coated with high-power impulse magnetron sputtering are tested at CERN in order to optimize the coating and study the Q-slope that limits the performance. To accurately measure the quality factor as a function of accelerating field, it is important to have good matching between an input antenna and a cavity impedance. To improve the matching, a variable coupler that changes the length of the antenna can be used. We have shown that the Q-factor of the input antenna can be changed between $10^7-10^{11}$ by moving the antenna, which should allow to achieve critical coupling with a cavity. This technology could be used in future measurements, so that reflections are always minimized.