According to a recent report from the Los Angeles Chronicle, engineers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory are preparing to launch a new generation of high-field magnets that have the potential to significantly reduce a lab's operating costs and open up an entire new experimental industry for physics research. The biggest success so far in the effort is the collaborative project with SuperPower Inc. to produce a superconducting magnet that requires little to no electricity. The magnet has recently broken two world records for the strength of magnetic fields.

"We are now confident that this conductor technology can be used to construct an all-superconducting magnet with fields in excess of 30 tesla," said David Larbalestier, chief materials scientist at the magnet lab. "This is a huge gain over niobium-based superconducting magnets that are only operational to 23.5 tesla." Niobium is the material used to build most superconducting magnets.

Drew W. Hazelton, principal engineer for HTS applications at SuperPower said, "These new world record achievements are an important indicator of the value provided by SuperPower´s superior performance wire in the area of high field magnetics. We can expect important new developments in magnetics research in the future."

Since the project began over two years ago, it has progressed in leaps and bounds. In the future, it looks to continue its research into the science of magnetics that can potentially change the way we look at physics.

Posted by Jay Roberts at 03:37 PM | Permalink