Investigation Of Breakdown Induced Surface Damage On 805 Mhz Pillbox Cavity Interior Surfaces

TL;DR

This paper investigates how breakdown-induced surface damage affects 805 MHz RF cavity interiors, using image analysis and electric field modeling to understand breakdown mechanisms and surface damage distribution.

Contribution

It introduces an image processing method to quantify spark damage distribution and correlates it with electric field predictions, advancing understanding of cavity breakdowns.

Findings

Spark damage distribution correlates with electric field strength.

Spark density follows a power law dependence on electric field.

Damage analysis aligns with Fowler-Nordheim dark current theory.

Abstract

The MuCool Test Area (MTA) at Fermilab is a facility to develop the technology required for ionization cooling for a future Muon Collider and/or Neutrino Factory. As part of this research program, we have tested two 805 MHz vacuum RF cavities in a multi-Tesla magnetic field to study the effects of the static magnetic field on the cavity operation. This study gives useful information on field emitters in the cavity, dark current, surface conditioning, breakdown mechanisms and material properties of the cavity. All these factors determine the maximum accelerating gradient in the cavity. This paper discusses the image processing technique for quantitative estimation of spark damage spot distribution on cavity interior surfaces. The distribution is compared with the electric field distribution predicted by a computer code calculation. The local spark density is proportional to probability of surface breakdown and shows a power law dependence on the maximum electric field (E). This E dependence is consistent with the dark current calculated from the Fowler-Nordheim equation.