A powerful superconducting magnet capable of generating a record magnetic field intensity of 45.5 Tesla has been developed by materials engineers at the U.S. National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University. Only pulsed magnets, which sustain fields for a fraction of a second at a time, have The miniature magnet generated a world-record 45.5 tesla magnetic field. Source: U.S. National High Magnetic Field Laboratoryachieved higher intensities.

Intense electric currents were sent through coils composed of a copper oxide superconductor to generate magnetic fields with low energy consumption. The resulting field strength exceeded that of energy-hungry resistive magnets — which do not use superconductors — used by state-of-the-art magnet labs. The compact, 390 g device carries more than twice as much current as a same-sized section of niobium-based superconductor used in existing, much larger systems.

The design also lacks the insulation common to other superconducting magnet facilities, which in this case protects the equipment from quench, a malfunction that causes the material to heat up and lose its superconducting capacity. This problem does not arise in the absence of insulation, as the current merely seeks an alternate route.

The diminutive but powerful superconducting magnet could find application in particle detectors, nuclear fusion reactors and medical diagnostics.