The 8th Workshop in this series will continue the goal of providing a Forum for new initiatives in innovative thin films and related technology to advance future generations of superconducting RF accelerators. Present superconducting RF accelerator technology is based on predominately bulk niobium, for which the state of the art in performance is reaching the theoretical limit. Thin film technology offers the prospect of considerable savings in fabrication costs and opens the way with innovative technologies to the use of alternative superconducting materials with enhanced intrinsic properties such as critical temperature and critical field. Intensive and coordinated R&D effort is of decisive importance for the scientific community.
The primary aim of the workshop is to support this initiative by providing an opportunity to bring together individuals and institutions working in this effort and infusing expertise of specialists from related disciplines (superconductivity, plasma physics, material science, nanotechnology, RF engineering and industry). Reports on work from each participating group and extensive discussions on existing problems, new ideas and programs for the future constitute the primary focus of the program.
This workshop will be the first of the series where we will not enjoy the company of our esteemed colleagues Enzo Palmieri and Larry Phillips and benefit from their out-of-the-box ideas. They will be dearly missed, but both would have wanted us to carry on with pushing the limits of RF superconductivity with thin film technology.
