Construction of a New MgB₂ Coating System for 1.3-GHz Superconducting RF Cavities at LANL

After many years of evaluating MgB ₂ films prepared with various techniques for the application to superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities, we have decided to build a system to coat full-size 1.3-GHz elliptical cavities. This paper describes the design and construction of the system. Additionally, we briefly describe experimental results with a small system and first tests with the new large system. We were able to obtain superconducting samples with a T _c of up to 38 K with the small system, but we have not been able to get any superconducting samples with the new system yet.