The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (National MagLab) is home to the record-breaking 32 Tesla Superconducting Magnet (SCM-32T), which this year, has been opened up to the high magnetic field user community in an exciting new facility at its headquarters at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

Working with the largest and highest-powered magnet lab in the world, Oxford Instruments NanoScience played a crucial role in the 32 T’s development. Dr. John Burgoyne, Global Head, Custom and Speciality Systems at Oxford Instruments NanoScience is part of the team that made it happen. He shares what it meant to be involved in the making of this magnet, as well as the project’s successes, challenges and what’s in store for the future of materials discovery.

"Our communication with the National MagLab was the key to achieving the results we did. We partnered up on this project starting in 2011 and in that time, really grew to know the intricacies of the project and collaborated heavily with the wider team."

What was Oxford Instruments NanoScience’s involvement in the project?

The team at Oxford Instruments NanoScience played a significant part in the magnet’s development. Working in close collaboration with the National Maglab team, Oxford Instruments designed and built the 15 T low-temperature superconducting (LTS) outsert for the magnet, which when paired with the 17 T high-temperature superconducting (HTS) insert from the MagLab, has created this stable and homogeneous high-field environment for research to take place.

The 32 T creates a one-of-a-kind user experience for scientists around the world, and we’re so proud to have played our role in opening up the exploration of physical phenomena. The magnet represents a major step forward in the development of superconducting magnets, and the best bit is that it’s now accessible for scientists to explore!

Further to the magnet project, we went on to supply the MagLab with a special Kelvinox^®TLM dilution refrigerator as an experimental insert, so that the whole system is capable of providing temperatures down to 15 mK in the 32 T magnetic field – a hugely impressive resource for solid state physicists in probing the fundamental mechanisms and phenomena of new materials. Remember – this type of so-called “esoteric” or “blue-sky” research is where the chips in your mobile phone started from! Oxford Instrument’s dual expertise in superconducting magnets and ultra-low temperature systems was a key underpinning success factor to what we could offer the MagLab in the completed system.

What do you think was the success behind the project?

Our communication with the National MagLab was the key to achieving the results we did. We partnered up on this project starting in 2011 and in that time, really grew to know the intricacies of the project and collaborated heavily with the wider team. We maintained a superb ongoing and open technical relationship, with good mutual response to situations, and our dedication, vision, and ambition to see things through as a collective became the driving force behind such a large-scale project.

What challenges did you face during this project?

It’s most important to us that we deliver the technology our customers expect, and it’s fair to say that in the four years of working directly on the magnet project from first exploratory design to final installation, it presented its unique challenges. We set out to create a system that would not only meet its specifications but do so with complete reliability and repeatability, knowing that the magnet would go through multiple quench cycles while the MagLab perfected the HTS insert prior to it becoming a “user magnet”, and that’s exactly what we did.

The subsequent follow-on of the special KelvinoxTLM dilution refrigerator built on all the collaborative relationships we had established, to come to its fruition with site sign-off in early 2021.

Fine-tuning the KelvinoxTLM was a big job as the 32 T magnet has a relatively small bore diameter of 34 mm, so we didn’t have a lot of room to play with in order to maintain the best possible sample space that will be available to its future users. As I mentioned, collaborative work was fundamental to the success of this project, and in this case extended right from practical details for the layout of the control system in the lab to detailed design aspects which had to be considered for working in such a high magnetic field and tight space. The depth of experience of both teams really counted here.

Also, there was a lot of work required at MagLab’s site to set up and install the KelvinoxTLM in the 32 T magnet system, maintaining the precise alignment. With COVID-19, labs were shut and people were isolating or remote-working for much of 2020 and into 2021, meaning we had to work in available windows of opportunity alongside facility and government guidelines to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

What will this exciting new facility mean for the future?

It will mean more exploration in this field of solid-state physics and materials science. Existing fully resistive magnets of this high field strength require 1000s of gallons of water for cooling and many MWh of electricity, so in comparison this magnet is much easier to run, as well as more compact and user-friendly. New findings in physics are impossible to achieve without equipment such as this being made available. A notable part of the MagLab’s mission is that no direct fees are charged for access, so use of the equipment is on scientific merit, so facilities like the 32 T are open to everyone. I speak on behalf of the wider team when I say that we truly look forward to seeing what’s in store for future research using this magnet.

For more information about the 32 Tesla Superconducting Magnet, visit The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory website.

Dr. John Burgoyne