SLAC-PUB-1134 WC) October 1972 CURRENT STATUS OF SUPERCONDUCTING ACCELERATOR TECHNOLOGY*

Superconducting accelerator technology is celebrating an anniversary this year. Ten years ago, in 1962, Q’s in the range 166-169 and peak rf mangetic fields on the order of 100 G were obtained in measurements on leadplated, S-band cavities at Stanford. While the theoretical possibility of building superconducting linear accelerators had been considered previously, these results marked, if not the birth, then at least an important turning point in the history of this new technology. In t,he years immediately following, further improvements in rf cavity properties and advances in cryogenic technolo,T, due in large part to the efforts of the Stanford group, continued to point the way toward the practical realization of superconducting accelerators. Plans were made at Stanford and at other laboratories around the world for the construction of a superconducting accelerator or an rf separator. At present, something like 15 laboratories have ‘under construction, or are seriously proposing, devices using superconducting rf structures. After a decade of escalating effort directed toward superconducting accelerator development, the time seems appropriate for a survey of the activity in this field.