Daniel Bafia, a Ph.D. student at Illinois Institute of Technology who is conducting his thesis work at Fermilab, was recently awarded the Best Student Poster Prize at the 2019 International Particle Accelerator Conference. The conference is the main annual conference of the field. His poster presentation was chosen best, competing against more than 130 other student presentations.
Bafia’s work focuses on a method to improve the performance of particle accelerators — specifically in the field of superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) technology. In accelerators, cavities are structures that transfer energy to particle beams as the beams race through them. By infusing the SRF cavity’s inner surface with nitrogen, researchers can increase the cavity’s efficiency and boost beams to higher energies over shorter distances.
Bafia works to push the nitrogen doping technology at the bounds of what cavities can deliver. His work could lead to higher-performing SRF accelerators at the energy and intensity frontiers and for light sources. The results of his work are directly applicable to the planned LCLS-II High Energy Upgrade at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
Bafia works under the joint supervision of Fermilab scientist and Accelerator Physics and Superconducting Technology Division Deputy Head Anna Grassellino, Fermilab scientist and Accelerator Physics and Superconducting Technology Associate Division Head Alex Romanenko, and Illinois Institute of Technology Professor John Zasadzinski.
This work is funded by the General Accelerator Research and Development program of the DOE Office of High Energy Physics and the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
Learn more about nitrogen doping for SRF cavities.
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