Technologies capable of producing high magnetic fields are essential to many fields of science and technology. They are vital components of today’s particle accelerators and colliders, where they guide and shape the particle beams and can determine an accelerator’s energy reach. They are also crucial to many proposed fusion energy reactors, which promise almost unlimited carbon-free energy and are essential to advances in everything from dark matter detection to medical diagnoses and treatment, the discovery of new drugs, and the development of new quantum technologies and semiconductors.
In light of their importance to scientific research, medicine, and industry, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine—private, nonprofit institutions that provide advice on many of the most pressing issues facing society—have published a study that explores the current state and prospects of high-magnetic-field technologies and recommends actions necessary to support technological innovation. Released on August 13, 2024, The Current Status and Future Direction of High-Magnetic-Field Science in the United States (National Academies Press, 2024) identifies new scientific opportunities and key applications for high-magnetic-field science and technology for the next decade and beyond.
“The study provides a consensus from a committee of experts from a wide variety of areas within high magnetic field science and technology,” said Diego Arbelaez, a staff scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Engineering Division and a committee member for the study. “It lays out the current status and identifies new scientific opportunities and their enabling technologies for the future of high magnetic field science.”
The Lab is working at the forefront of high-field magnet technologies. For example, The Berkeley Center for Magnet Technology (BCMT), led jointly by Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics (ATAP) and the Engineering Divisions, is a leader in high-field-magnet R&D and applications. ATAP serves as the leading research element of the BCMT, with ATAP’s Superconducting Magnet Program (SMP) providing innovative technology that enables new science and a wide range of applications, including exciting new advanced magnetic fusion concepts and many other applications. SMP also leads the U.S. Magnet Development Program, supported by the Department of Energy Office of High Energy Physics, in developing new magnets to enable future accelerators. It is a key member of the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider Accelerator Upgrade Project (HL-LHC-AUP). Last December, working with colleagues from other national labs, SMP researchers delivered the first of a suite of new magnets for the HL-LHC-AUP made from niobium-tin, a high-field superconducting material not previously used in an operational collider and whose stronger fields will enable stronger beam interactions to extend the reach of particle physics.
Commenting on the study and its significance for the field, Soren Prestemon, ATAP deputy director of technology and SMP head, who also contributed to the study, said, “It benefits from the highest level of expertise in the national labs and universities and provides exceptional insight into the connections and synergies between high-field science opportunities across distinct fields of science and technology.”
“We are in a new era where high-field magnets, most notably utilizing high-temperature superconductors, will enable profound opportunities for humanity in science and the commercial arena.
He adds that this high-level study sets a broad vision for the field and recommends many directions well aligned with the expertise residing in the Berkeley Center for Magnet Technology and with the roadmaps developed by the Department of Energy Office for High-Energy Physics Magnet Development Program to support future collider needs.
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