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posted by martyb on Friday June 14 2019, @04:39AM   Printer-friendly
from the you-could-run-39-of-these-off-of-just-one-Mr.-Fusion dept.

For 20 years, the record for strongest direct-current magnetic field has stood at 45 Tesla. Now, researchers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, or MagLab, at Florida State University have increased this to 45.5 Tesla using a high temperature copper-oxide superconducting magnet (for comparison, MRI machine magnetic fields run in the 1.5 to 3 Tesla range and there are now existing MRIs which operate at 7 Tesla.)

Seungyong Hahn, associate professor at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and a MagLab scientist, led the team building the new magnet, which is about the size of a beer can. “Little Big Coil 3” features a superconducting magnet inside of a resistive magnet, and rather than using niobium-tin, it uses a tape coated with a kind of “cuprate” superconductor called rare-earth-barium-copper-oxide (REBCO) that achieves superconductivity at higher temperatures. The tape is only the width of a hair and can be wound tightly, increasing the density of the electrical current and therefore the magnetic field strength. The team also left off the insulation which would otherwise help direct the current, but could cause the superconductor to lose its superconducting properties, or quench. Leaving it off increases the density of the current and allows for safer quenching, according to the paper published in Nature.

Extremely high strength magnetic fields are useful in various fields:

such as medicine (magnetic resonance imaging), pharmacy (nuclear magnetic resonance), particle accelerators (such as the Large Hadron Collider) and fusion devices (for example, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ITER), as well as for other diverse scientific and industrial uses.

Unfortunately for those with hoverboard dreams, the device requires 31 Megawatts of power to run.

Journal Reference
45.5-tesla direct-current magnetic field generated with a high-temperature superconducting magnet


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by nishi.b on Friday June 14 2019, @09:00AM (4 children)

    by nishi.b (4243) on Friday June 14 2019, @09:00AM (#855451)

    There is already a 11.7T human MRI and even a 21T small animal MRI. But field strength is not the main problen, the difficulty is that you need a magnetic field as homogeneous as possible in the volume you are imaging (that's why there are higher fields for rats and mice - smaller volume - than for humans). There may also be a limit due to the biological effects of those high fields (entering the field generates current in the body, so you have to get in slowly).

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 14 2019, @12:50PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 14 2019, @12:50PM (#855510)

    The fine article notes applications to:
    > medicine (magnetic resonance imaging), pharmacy (nuclear magnetic resonance)

    I was under the impression that these are the same, perhaps at different size (larger for MRI). Am I correct in thinking that the reason the earlier name NMR was dropped was because of the negative connotation of anything "nuclear".

    Comments?

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Muad'Dave on Friday June 14 2019, @05:15PM

      by Muad'Dave (1413) on Friday June 14 2019, @05:15PM (#855654)

      They did change the name for the imaging system, but I know for a fact that chemists use NMRs to analyze molecules [msu.edu]. Their work produces resonance graphs, not images, so I think there's still a distinction.

  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday June 14 2019, @06:37PM (1 child)

    by bob_super (1357) on Friday June 14 2019, @06:37PM (#855689)

    > entering the field generates current in the body

    How about the effects of those massive fields on the quite non-optional and non-throttleable electrical impulses along the nerves ? Any good research results ?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 14 2019, @11:25PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 14 2019, @11:25PM (#855805)

      > effects of those massive fields on...electrical impulses along the nerves...

      Here's the first bit of research that came to mind(grin),

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