# Field of first flux entry and pinning strength of superconductors for RF application measured with muon spin rotation

## TL;DR

This paper develops a muon spin rotation method to measure flux entry and pinning strength in superconductors, crucial for optimizing RF cavity performance in particle accelerators, and demonstrates that high-temperature annealing reduces pinning.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel $$SR-based technique combining multiple spectrometers to accurately measure flux entry and pinning in superconductors for RF applications.

## Key findings

- Annealing at 1400°C virtually eliminates pinning.
- The method enables measurement of flux entry in layered superconductors.
- Annealed substrates are suitable for higher accelerating gradients.

## Abstract

The performance of superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavities used for particle accelerators depends on two characteristic material parameters: field of first flux entry $H_{entry}$ and pinning strength. The former sets the limit for the maximum achievable accelerating gradient, while the latter determines how efficiently flux can be expelled related to the maximum achievable quality factor. In this paper, a method based on muon spin rotation ($\mu$SR) is developed to probe these parameters on samples. It combines measurements from two different spectrometers, one being specifically built for these studies and samples of different geometries. It is found that annealing at 1400{\deg}C virtually eliminates all pinning. Such an annealed substrate is ideally suited to measure $H_{entry}$ of layered superconductors, which might enable accelerating gradients beyond bulk niobium technology.