N-doped surfaces of superconducting niobium cavities as a disordered composite

Abstract

The Q-factor of superconducting accelerating cavities can be substantially improved by a special heat treatment under N2 atmosphere (N-doping). Recent experiments at Fermi National Laboratory investigated the dependence of Q on the RF frequency and showed, unexpectedly, both an increase and a decrease with the RF field amplitude. This paper shall explain this finding by extending a previously proposed model founded on the two fluid model of RF losses, percolation and the proximity effect in a disordered composite.