Seamless 1.3 GHz Copper Cavities for Nb Coatings: Cold Test Results of Two Different Approaches

A necessary condition for high SRF performances in thin film coated cavities is the absence of substrate defects. For instance, in the past, defects originated around electron beam welds in high magnetic field areas have been shown to be the cause of performance limitations in Nb/Cu cavities. Seamless cavities are therefore good candidates to allow an optimization of the coating parameters without the pitfalls of a changing substrate. In this work, we present the first results of two different methods to produce seamless cavities applied to 1.3 GHz copper single cells coated with thin Nb films by means of HIPIMS. A first method consists in electroplating the copper resonator on precisely machined aluminum mandrels, which are then dissolved chemically. As an alternative and a cross check, one cavity was machined directly from the bulk. Both cavities were coated with HIPIMS Nb films using the same coating parameters and the SRF performance was measured down to 1.8 K with a variable coupler to minimize the measurement uncertainty.