Magnet research
Background
Various magnetic devices are needed to manipulate beam particles or analyze the outcome of experiments. As nuclear science continues to advance, increasingly powerful magnets are required. This demands new approaches to meet the challenges inherent in magnets. For one, material properties limit how high a magnetic field can be pushed before the magnet, itself, self destructs. Also, magnets are damaged by high levels of radiation, such as those that occur in advanced nuclear physics experiments. Thus, the science of magnetics is focused on extending present technology to new limits.
The Role of NSCL
Most of the magnetic devices in use at NSCL were designed and built at our lab. Many of them use cutting-edge technology and are unique in the world. Newly emerging projects like RIA require that more powerful magnets be designed and built. This will require new approaches and, as a leader in magnet technology, NSCL is well positioned to address these challenges in the future. We are looking at new ways to build magnets that still allow us to generate very high magnetic fields without having the magnets self-destruct. This research does not involve developing new materials, but rather it seeks to use known materials in new ways. Everything in the world can be damaged by radiation, including magnets, and the amount of radiation needed to damage something varies by factors of trillions — the magnitude of the U.S. government’s annual budget. Unfortunately, many of the nuclear physics experiments we want to do with future accelerators require that some magnets operate in very high radiation fields that can destroy magnets built with conventional technology in less than one year. Since such magnet failures are very costly, we are trying to develop magnets with the same capabilities as the present ones but having the ability to operate in these advanced environments.
The most radiation-sensitive component of a magnet is the electrical insulation. Just as ozone in the air causes the rubber on electrical cords to crack, possibly resulting in dangerous shorts or shocks to people, the insulation on the magnet wires cracks from radiation and the magnet shorts out and quits working. Advanced materials similar to glass can also be used for insulation and can stand very high radiation. Glass, itself, cannot be used because it is very brittle, so you can’t bend it into the shapes needed to make coils. We are working on ways to use these materials in magnets. If we can succeed, then numbers of nuclear physics experiments become possible at reduced cost.
