A coaxial HOM coupler for a superconducting RF cavity and its low-power measurement results
A resonant buildup of beam-induced fields in a superconducting radio frequency (RF) cavity may make a beam unstable or a superconducting RF cavity quench. Higher-order mode (HOM) couplers are used for damping higher-order modes to avoid such a resonant buildup. A coaxial HOM coupler based on the TTF (TESLA Test Facility) HOM coupler has been designed for the superconducting RF cavities at the Proton Engineering Frontier Project (PEFP) in order to overcome notch frequency shift and feed-through tip melting issues. In order to confirm the HOM coupler design and finalize its structural dimensions, two prototype HOM couplers have been fabricated and tested. Low-power testing and measurement of the HOM couplers has shown that the HOM coupler has good filter properties and can fully meet the damping requirements of the PEFP low-beta superconducting RF linac.