Magnet Lab Pulsed Magnet Achieves 80-Tesla Operations
July 3, 2006
Contact:
Chuck Swenson, (850) 644-1623
swenson@magnet.fsu.edu
Susan Ray, 850-644-9651
sray@magnet.fsu.edu
The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory continued its string of firsts last week when the lab's newly developed pulsed-magnet prototype survived multiple shots at 80 tesla.
"This is great news for the Magnet Lab and a huge landmark for the lab's technical and engineering expertise," said Magnet Lab Director Greg Boebinger. "This kind of success requires not only first-rate engineering, but also first-rate craftsmanship by our coil winders, machinists, welders and magnet operators throughout the Magnet Lab."
The 80-tesla model coil established a new world mark for high-performance pulsed magnets and will be very useful in determining operating parameters for the National Science Foundation-Department of Energy 100 Tesla Multi-Shot magnet program. Several other labs worldwide have attempted to deliver similar systems without success.
Testing intended to establish the limits of the present generation of pulsed magnet technology by pulsing the coil to destruction, started at the lab's Pulsed Field Facility in Los Alamos, N.M., on June 15, 2006. The magnet attained 80-tesla operations June 22, 2006. The prototype experienced a fault the evening June 26, 2006.
The development of the 80-tesla model coil was a team effort that required close coordination between the Tallahassee, Fla., and Los Alamos sites of the lab. Team members include: Bill Sheppard, technical winding; Todd Adkins, Tooling CAD; Scott Bole, engineering manager; Mark Collins, coil machinist; Mike Gordon, bank operations; Steve Kenny, Magnet CAD; James Michel, technical winding support; Ed Miller, technical winding; Mike Pacheco, component fabrication and test setup; Alan Paris, bank operations; Ken Pickard, coax leads and material coordination; Dwight Rickel, magnet testing; Josef Schillig, capacitor bank design; Robert Stanton, welding; and Jeff Martin, diagnostics.
"The lab's engineers and technicians continue to set the world standard for magnet technology," said Alex Lacerda, the lab's associate director for user operations. "We look forward to giving our users routine access to pulsed fields that in the past could only be imagined."
Once completed, the magnetic field of the 100 Tesla Multi-Shot system will provide routine non-destructive access to stronger thermodynamic effects than any other thermodynamic variable but temperature. Moreover, the 100's millisecond measurement times will permit the application of a wide variety of experimental probes including spectroscopy (continuous and time-resolved), transport and possibly thermodynamics.
The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (www.magnet.fsu.edu) develops and operates state-of-the-art high-magnetic-field facilities that faculty and visiting scientists and engineers use for research in physics, biology, bioengineering, chemistry, geochemistry, biochemistry, and materials science. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the state of Florida, the lab is operated by Florida State University, and its 330,000-square-foot main facility is located in Tallahassee's Innovation Park. The magnet lab also has facilities at the University of Florida and at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
