Superconducting RF cavities: film of bulk

The successful operation of LEP2 has demonstrated the feasibility of using on a large scale copper accelerating cavities coated with a thin superconducting niobium film. Yet other existing or planned installations such as CEBAF and TESLA, rely instead on the bulk niobium technology. The reason is a wide spread belief that the film technology would suffer from fundamental limitations preventing high gradients to be reached...