The new results provide vital information for the next generation of high-field superconducting magnets. It's part of an ongoing effort to build a 32-tesla all-superconducting research magnet that could both reduce the cost of scientific experiments and make high-field research accessible to more scientific users. The 35.4 tesla field was achieved by "nesting" the YBCO coil inside a 31-tesla resistive magnet, with the "insert" YBCO coil supplying the additional 4.4 tesla.
Dr. Ulf Peter Trociewitz and Matthieu Dalban-Canassy examine the YBCO insert magnet
Promising though they are, high-field superconducting materials such as YBCO are also frustratingly complex. They are brittle, still fairly expensive and in certain ways mysterious. YBCO is a member of the REBCO or rare-earth-barium-copper-oxide family of superconductors, brittle ceramics that represent a departure from the ductile alloy-type superconductors commonly used for magnetic fields up to 11 tesla (and for familiar applications such as MRIs).
The new high-field record was publicly announced on September 12 at the 22nd International Conference on Magnet Technology in Marseille, France. Conducted over the past year, this work represents "an important step on the way to generating the highest possible fields at low operating costs using superconducting technology," says team leader Dr. Ulf Peter Trociewitz, staff scientist at the Magnet Lab.
The tape was manufactured by New-York-based SuperPower, Inc., a world leader in developing commercially feasible high-temperature superconductors and related devices designed to enhance the capacity, reliability and quality of electric power transmission and distribution.
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