Superconducting RF cavities: film of bulk

The successful operation of LEP2 has demonstrated the feasibility of using on a large scale copper accelerating cavities coated with a thin superconducting niobium film. Yet other existing or planned installations such as CEBAF and TESLA, rely instead on the bulk niobium technology. The reason is a wide spread belief that the film technology would suffer from fundamental limitations preventing high gradients to be reached...Lecture on the use of film and bulk technologies in large scale accelerating cavities