60 Tesla Magnet Rebuilt Stronger Than Ever for Breakthrough Science

Published August 14, 2025

Left: Winding Zylon fiber with epoxy over the external shell. Right: View down the bore of coil 7.

The MagLab has completed an important milestone with the fabrication completion of all coils for the 60 T controlled waveform pulsed magnet. It will soon be fully assembled at the Los Alamos Pulsed Field Facility and ready to support user science after being off-line for more than ten years.

What is the finding

After a decade out of service, the MagLab’s powerful 60 Tesla Controlled Waveform (CW) magnet has been rebuilt with major upgrades in performance, reliability, and safety. Three key coils were reconstructed using improved materials, quality control, and insulation techniques.

Why is this important?

This magnet allows researchers to study materials under extreme magnetic conditions not possible anywhere else. Designed to provide a unique combination of field and long pulse duration – up to 2 seconds – with a quasi-static field of 60 T and a 100 ms flat-top, this magnet’s pulse shape (or waveform) can be adjusted to suit the needs of different experiments. Controlling a pulsed waveform up to 60 T cannot be done anywhere else in the world and this rebuild ensures long-term access to one of the world’s strongest and most versatile magnets, advancing fields from quantum science to energy innovation.

Who did the research?

Iain Dixon¹, Todd Adkins¹, Ke Han¹, Rongmei Niu¹, Doan Nguyen²

¹National MagLab, FSU; ²National MagLab, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Why did they need the MagLab?

Only the MagLab has the technical expertise, facilities, and collaborative engineering infrastructure—across Florida State University and Los Alamos National Lab—to rebuild and operate such an advanced, custom high-field instrument. MagLab engineers and technicians contribute state-of-the-art quality controls and detailed winding and fabrication procedures that will maximize the fatigue life of the coils. MS&T and ASC materials development teams develop and provide the latest high-strength, high-conductivity conductor to produce the coils and the Los Alamos National Lab team designs pulsed fields, winds smaller bore coils and integrates the pulsed magnets into their unique facilities with a suite of sophisticated and robust power supply hardware. The combination of these capabilities allows production and access to the world’s highest pulsed magnetic fields for users.