Before this new magnet reached full field in December 2017, the world's strongest superconducting user magnet had a field strength of 23.5 teslas. At 32 teslas, this new record-holder is a whopping 8.5 teslas stronger than the previous record – a giant leap in a technology that, since the 1960s, has seen only baby steps of 0.5 to 1 tesla.

Project Specs Strength 32 tesla Type All superconducting Cold bore size 34 mm Successfully tested at full field December 2017 Superconductors YBCO (2 coils), Niobium-Tin (3 coils), and Niobium-Titanium (2 coils) Mass 2.3 tons Customer National Science Foundation / Florida State University

The groundbreaking instrument will considerably reduce the cost of scientific experiments and make high-field research accessible to more scientists. The system will also support decades worth of new science. Due in large part to the quieter environment a superconducting magnet offers over a resistive magnet of equivalent strength, the 32 tesla will help scientists break new ground in nuclear magnetic resonance, electron magnetic resonance, molecular solids, quantum oscillation studies of complex metals, fractional quantum Hall effect and other areas. The magnet is expected to become available to users in 2019.

Begun in 2009, the project represents a breakthrough in superconducting magnet technology on many fronts. Among other innovations, it combines low-temperature superconductors commonly used in today’s superconducting magnets - niobium tin and niobium titanium -- with “YBCO,” a superconducting ceramic composed of yttrium, barium, copper and oxygen. Although YBCO-coated conductors in this case operate at the same temperature and in the same helium bath as their metallic counterparts, they remain superconducting far above the practical magnetic field limits inherent to niobium-based superconductors. For this reason, YBCO can also be called a high-field superconductor; it superconducts at far higher temperatures than niobium-based materials but, like all superconductors, performs best at very low temperatures.

When it becomes available to users, the 32 tesla will be the first high-field magnet available to researchers to incorporate YBCO, a finicky material a few commercial companies have been developing for years in collaboration with MagLab engineers and scientists. The 2.3-ton magnet system features about 6 miles of YBCO tape, formed into 112 disc-shaped “pancakes.” Two inner coils of YBCO, fabricated at the MagLab are surrounded by a commercial outsert consisting of three coils of niobium-tin and two coils of niobium-titanium.

The new magnet will particularly be more attractive for users whose experiments require lower noise and longer running times than the resistive magnets can offer, while the relatively fast ramp-rate of 32 T/hour in this superconducting magnet also allow for many field sweeps per day.

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Staff Contacts

Project manager Mark Bird.