  Niobium-based Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) cavity performance is
sensitive to localized defects that give rise to quenches at high accelerating
gradients. In order to identify these material defects on bulk Nb surfaces at
their operating frequency and temperature, it is important to develop a new
kind of wide bandwidth microwave microscopy with localized and strong RF
magnetic fields. By taking advantage of write head technology widely used in
the magnetic recording industry, one can obtain ~200 mT RF magnetic fields,
which is on the order of the thermodynamic critical field of Nb, on submicron
length scales on the surface of the superconductor. We have successfully
induced the nonlinear Meissner effect via this magnetic write head probe on a
variety of superconductors. This design should have a high spatial resolution
and is a promising candidate to find localized defects on bulk Nb surfaces and
thin film coatings of interest for accelerator applications.
