High magnetic fields for physics

AUG 01, 1984

In its first years the National Magnet Laboratory has become the preeminent center for advanced magnet technology and the “Mecca” of visiting experimentalists eager to use the Laboratory’s extensive high‐field facilities.

DOI: 10.1063/1.2916349

Lawrence G. Rubin

Peter A. Wolff

For many years magnetic fields have served as an essential tool of the experimental physicist. For example, in solid‐state physics our current understanding of the Fermi surfaces of metals, the band structures of semiconductors, the phases of magnets and the properties of superconductors is in each instance based on observations that involve magnetic fields. Yet, until 25 years ago, the highest dc field available to most scientists was that provided by iron‐cored electromagnets—about 3 T (30 kG) in air gaps of a few centimeters. In 1960 the Francis Bitter National Magnetic Laboratory was established to develop magnetic field facilities beyond 3 T and use them for solid‐state physics research. The Magnet Lab was the first center for research on high magnetic fields in the world and remains the focus for such work in the United States.

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More about the Authors

Lawrence G. Rubin. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Peter A. Wolff. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.