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The SRF Institute and Tech Transfer

Technology transfer is an important part of the mission of the Institute. We benefit when we enable the participation of industry in microwave superconductivity.

Creation of economic activity based on our R&D validates the people’s investment, through their tax dollars, in our staff and facilities;
When industry is able to exploit and extend our technology, its application to our future projects becomes more cost effective and predictable;
When parts of our technology become more commodity-like, we can buy rather than make, saving money that we can apply to further technology development;
Industry creates new knowledge as it seeks to make its products better, faster and cheaper, improving our understanding and enabling still further development.

The principal mechanisms that we use to transfer technology to industry are SBIR/STTRs and CRADAs.

Small Business Innovative Research and Small business Technology Transfer grants “seek to increase the participation of small businesses in Federal R&D and to increase private sector commercialization of technology developed through Federal R&D”. The Institute is engaged in SBIRs or STTRs with the following companies:

Alameda Applied Sciences, on plasma-based deposition of thin niobium films on copper cavities. It is hoped that these investigations will lead to technology that can create cheaper, high-performance accelerating cavities.
Black Laboratories, on methods of producing very fine-grained niobium stock for the production of conventional sheet-metal cavities with more homogeneous properties.
Energen, on the development of alternative forms of actuators for cryogenic applications, such as tuners for superconducting cavities.
Global Research and Development, on the evaluation of MgB 2 as an alternative superconductor

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements allow “the Federal government and non-Federal partners to optimize their resources, share technical expertise in a protected environment, share intellectual property emerging from the effort, and speed the commercialization of federally developed technology”. The Institute is engaged in CRADAs with the following companies:

Advanced Energy Systems, on the development and construction of a 100 mA cryounit that could serve as the injector for a 100 kW IR FEL, using an Energy Recovered Linac (ERL).

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The SRF Institute and Tech Transfer