An overview of the MagLab's history, from 1989 to the present.
Florida State University has named acclaimed researcher and industry leader Kathleen Amm as the new director of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. Dr. Amm earned her doctorate from FSU in 1998 and was advised by the National MagLab’s founding director, Jack Crow, during the early days of the formation of the National MagLab’s headquarters at Florida State University.
Scientists at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory will be analyzing soil and water samples from the site of the wildfires that devastated parts of Maui in early August 2023. The scientists will examine how the fire impacted the chemistry of the soil and water and how that could affect the area’s larger ecosystem.
The National Science Foundation funding, authorized by the National Science Board, announced a $195.5 million cooperative agreement over the next five years, a move that keeps the world’s most powerful magnet lab headquartered at Florida State University with partner sites at University of Florida and Los Alamos National Laboratory through 2027 and supports groundbreaking discoveries using high field magnets.
Engineers and technicians from the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory were recognized with a 2022 R&D 100 Award for the design and construction of the 32 tesla (T) Superconducting Magnet. The R&D 100 recognizes revolutionary ideas in science and technology, and the 32T magnet is the world’s most powerful all-superconducting magnet.
The 2022 game-themed Open House featured nearly 100 hands-on activities and hosted a whopping 11,700+ visitors! It was the first in-person Open House since February 2020 due to pandemic interruptions.
U.S. President Joe Biden named Laura Greene, chief scientist at the National MagLab and the Marie Krafft Professor of Physics at Florida State University, has been appointed to serve on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
MagLab researchers show that exposure to sun and water causes thousands of chemicals to leach from roads into the environment.
In a uranium-based compound once dismissed as boring, scientists watched superconductivity arise, perish, then return to life under the influence of high magnetic fields.
In October 2019, the MagLab celebrated 25 years since our dedication event. In honor of our silver anniversary, we've gathered facts and figures that reflect more than two dozen years of the MagLab's scientific impact.
The compact coil could lead to a new generation of magnets for biomedical research, nuclear fusion reactors and many applications in between.
In a hydrogen-packed compound squeezed to ultra-high pressures, scientists have observed electrical current with zero resistance tantalizingly close to room temperature.
With a twist and a squeeze, researchers discover a new method to manipulate the electrical conductivity of this game-changing "wonder material."
With funding from the National Science Foundation, scientists and engineers will explore the best way to build a new class of record-breaking instruments.
Using tools at the MagLab, scientists pinpoint pigments that are the oldest on record.
Made with high-temperature superconductors, the 32-tesla all-superconducting magnet shatters a world record and opens new frontiers in science.
Physicists prove a 30-year-old theory — the even-denominator fractional quantum Hall state — and establish bilayer graphene as a promising platform that could lead to quantum computation.
The new 41.4-tesla instrument reclaimed a title for the lab and paved the way for breakthroughs in physics and materials research.
A compact "no-insulation" magnet made of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape claimed a new world record by reaching a field of 11.3 teslas while inside a larger, 31.2-T resistive magnet. The resulting 42.5-tesla field became the highest field in which a superconducting magnet had ever operated and a new record for an HTS magnet operating within a background field.
The 36-tesla series connected hybrid reached full field, combining tremendous strength with a high-quality field for health-related, nuclear magnetic resonance research.
In graphene superlattices, researchers observed a fractional Bloch band quantum Hall effect (FBQHE).
National Academy of Science member Laura Greene started as the MagLab's chief scientist on August 17, bringing more than 20 years of scientific expertise and teaching experience to the world's largest and highest powered magnet lab.
World’s first 21 tesla magnet for Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry installed at MagLab.
A record 77 students from across the world attended the workshop on topological phases of condensed matter. This weeklong workshop was started in 2012 and explores a different subject in condensed matter and materials research theory each January.
Working with graphene, two teams of researchers observed a never-before-seen energy pattern first theorized in 1976.
Physicist Eric Palm becomes the MagLab's first Deputy Lab Director.
MagLab researchers at the Pulsed Field Facility set a new world record of 100.75 tesla using a multi-shot magnet.
The MagLab sets another world record by creating a 35.4 tesla magnetic field using a superconducting-insert magnet.
MagLab researchers at the Pulsed Field Facility create the highest non-destructive magnetic field in the world at 97.4 tesla.
MagLab debuts its new world-record setting 25 tesla split magnet.
The largest wildfire in New Mexico's history causes staff at the MagLab's Pulsed Field Facility to evacuate. The lab reopens a few weeks later.
At the MagLab's AMRIS Facility, researchers identify a new benefit of the vitamin folate. Their findings represent the first new role for folate in more than a decade.
MagLab reclaims world record for highest field resistive magnet by improving the stacking pattern of bitter plates to reach 36.2 T.
NSF awards $15 million to purchase a state-of-the-art, 21-T superconducting magnet system for the lab's ICR user program.
NSF and FSU award the lab $3 million to build a 32-T, all superconducting magnet made with YBCO superconductor.
MagLab launches standing public tours the third Wednesday of each month.
MagLab launches User Summer School, a weeklong learning opportunity featuring tutorials on measurement techniques, practical exercises and plenary talks from experts in the field of condensed matter physics. This first one hosts 28 students.
MagLab engineers construct a bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide (BSCCO) 2212 round wire test coil that achieves 32 tesla, demonstrating that there is a second superconductor capable of reaching fields higher than 30 tesla.
A small test coil made from the superconducting material yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) achieves 33.8 tesla at a current of 325 amps, setting a new record for field strength and current density.
Scientists with the lab's ICR program license petroleum analysis software to Sierra Analytics, advancing the emerging field of petroleomics.
MagLab tops 1,000 users for the year. More than 1,000 visiting scientists from around the world performed research at the MagLab.
The MagLab and industry partner SuperPower collaborate to set a new world record for magnetic field created by a superconducting magnet: 26.8 tesla. The world-record magnet's test coil is wound with well-known high-temperature superconductor yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO).
The Helmholtz Centre Berlin contracts with the MagLab to build an $8.7 million high-field magnet for neutron scattering.
The Pulsed Field Facility's 100-tesla multi-shot magnet is commissioned for user operation at 85 tesla.
The NSF awards the MagLab $11.7 million to build the next-generation Series Connected Hybrid magnet.
MagLab engineers complete a new high-homogeneity magnet providing 28 tesla, eclipsing their previous mark of 25 tesla.
The National Science Board says it will accept a renewal proposal from the MagLab rather than compete the award.
A MagLab-engineered 35-tesla resistive magnet is commissioned, setting a new world record for a continuous field electromagnet.
The Applied Superconductivity Center at the University of Wisconsin moves to the MagLab at FSU.
The Magnet Lab is awarded a $1.8 million grant for concept and engineering design of a free electron laser light source for high magnetic field research.
Tests are completed on a 31-tesla magnet with a 50-mm experimental space – the highest field resistive magnet with a bore of its size in the world.
The Magnet Lab is awarded a $1.8 million NSF grant for conceptual and engineering design of a revolutionary c magnet system.
The Florida Legislature allocates $10 million for infrastructure upgrades at the FSU and UF branches of the lab.
Greg Boebinger becomes the second director of the MagLab.
The highest field resistive magnet in Europe is completed in collaboration with Radboud University (Nijmegen, Netherlands). Its field: 33 tesla.
The lab's Nuclear Magnetic Resonance program is awarded an $8 million National Institutes of Health grant.
AMRIS is awarded a $5.2 million National Institutes of Health grant to develop new radio frequency coils for nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging.
A third operating grant is awarded, $171 million over seven years, extending the original five-year grant by two years.
The world's strongest magnet – the 45-tesla hybrid – reaches full field and is commissioned for user service, earning a certification from the Guinness Book of World Records.
The new Experiment Hall opens at the Pulsed Field Facility.
The FT-ICR Facility grant is renewed at $5.8 million through 2004.
The Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy (AMRIS) user program debuts at the University of Florida McKnight Brain Institute.
A powerful 60-tesla, long-pulse magnet is dedicated at the Pulsed Field Facility.
MagLab engineers complete a 20-tesla magnet with the largest bore in the world: 195 mm.
MagLab engineers complete a 25-tesla magnet with 12 parts per million (ppm) homogeneity over a 10-mm diameter spherical volume, surpassing their own 24-tesla mark in both field intensity and uniformity.
MagLab engineers install a 30-tesla magnet in Tsukuba, Japan – the highest field resistive magnet in Asia.
MagLab engineers complete a resistive magnet for use on the International Space Station.
The second operating grant is awarded: $87.8 million over five years.
MagLab engineers complete a 33-tesla resistive magnet, breaking their own record.
The MagLab installs a world-record 9.4-tesla ion cyclotron resonance magnet system and a world-record high resolution electron magnetic resonance spectrometer of 17 tesla.
MagLab engineers produce 24-tesla high-homogeneity magnet, eclipsing the mark previously held by the Grenoble, France magnet lab.
MagLab engineers produce a 30-tesla resistive magnet – breaking the lab's previous record with the invention of new "Florida Bitter" magnet technology and tying the world record for highest magnetic fields set at MIT.
NSF's Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities Program awards $5 million to the Magnet Lab to develop an FT-ICR-Mass Spectrometry Facility. FSU chemistry professor Alan Marshall is named director. The state of Florida matches with $2 million to acquire high-field superconducting magnets.
The first MagLab-engineered and -built resistive magnet is installed and successfully tested. At 27 tesla, it sets a new world record. First to do research in the magnet is FSU physics professor Bill Moulton.
Final construction and renovation is completed.
The first class of undergraduates participates in Minority Scholars Program, which eventually becomes Research Experiences for Undergraduates program.
The Pulsed Field Facility at Los Alamos acquires its first magnet: a 50-tesla short-pulse magnet.
NSF awards the first operating grant, $60 million over five years. Magnets and infrastructure are put in place the first four years.
The National Science Board awards the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory to the consortium, shocking the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which had operated the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Francis Bitter National Magnet Lab for 25 years.
Florida State University hires Jack Crow to direct its Center for Materials Research and Technology. Crow, Don Parkin of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and Neil Sullivan of the University of Florida in Gainesville collaborate on a proposal for a new national magnet lab to be operated collaboratively by the three institutions and headquartered at FSU.
Last modified on 15 May 2024