First of all, I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor Dr. Jean Delayen, for all the support and time that he invested in my long journey through my research and studies. To my supervisor Dr. Mauro Napsuciale, for all the trust he has had in me throughout these years, I would not be here without his guidance. I would like to thank the Physics Department at Old Dominion University and the Physics Department at the University of Guanajuato, for all their support, patience, and for all the professors and colleagues from whom I have learnt so much. I am very thankful to CONACYT for all the support. To Dr. Hari Areti and the JSA for all the encouragement and support given to me and my young colleagues. To Dr. Todd Satogata and Dr. Vasiliy Morozov from the Center for Advanced Studies of Accelerator at Jefferson Lab, for all the time and positive attitude that they spent and showed while letting me learn from them, it was really one of the best parts of my research experience. To Joe Preble, Bob Rimmer, Tom Powers, Kirk Davis, and Pete Kushnick from the Superconducting Radiofrequency Institute at Jefferson Lab, for letting me and my colleagues learn from the best and carry out our experimental work without causing too many disasters, I would like to specially thank the amazing technical support of: Chris Dreyfuss, Roland Overton, and of course Danny Forehand, you guys rock! To Terry Grim, Chase Boulware, and Dmitry Gorelov at Niowave, Inc. for their help and work done building and testing the 750 MHz crab cavity. To my thesis committee, for their time and helpful comments. I would like to give special thanks v to my brothers and sisters in arms, my friends and colleagues: Chris Hopper, HyeKyoung Park, Kevin Mitchell, and of course Subashini De Silva, for all the tears, sweat, and blood shed day and night throughout our discussions and experimental work. To Carlos Hernandez-Garcia and his family, for their friendship, inspiration and support, it did not pass unnoticed. Finally and most importantly, to all my friends and family, that in the good and the ill have endured with me and lifted my spirit up, you all occupy a special place in my life. vi