Researchers at the MagLab are making discoveries today that will lead to the technologies of tomorrow. Whether a member of one of our robust in-house research groups or one of the nearly 1,400 outside scientists who do experiments here annually, MagLab researchers understand how high magnetic fields lead to making big discoveries.
Seeking the most powerful magnetic fields on Earth, scientists and engineers from across the world come to the MagLab to explore promising new materials, solve energy challenges and grow our understanding of living things. This kind of research has played a critical role in developing new technologies used every day – from electric lights and computers to motors, plastics, high-speed trains and MRI. Find out more by exploring our research initiatives, learning about our interdisciplinary research, or digging deeper into the hundreds of publications generated annually by MagLab researchers.
Research Initiatives
MATERIALS
Scientists use our magnets to explore semiconductors, superconductors, newly-grown crystals, buckyballs and materials from the natural world — research that reveals the secret workings of materials and empowers us to develop new technologies.
ENERGY
Scientists here are working to optimize petroleum refining, advance potential bio-fuels such as pine needles and algae, and fundamentally change the way we store and deliver energy by developing better batteries.
LIFE
With the world’s strongest MRI magnet, scientists here study everything from living animals to individual cells, from proteins to disease-fighting molecules found in plants and animals — work that could improve treatment of AIDS, cancer, Alzheimer’s and other diseases.
Latest Science Highlight
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Addressing Supply Chain Challenges for Advanced Superconductors
19 April 2022
The start of a sustainable business model for manufacturing advanced superconductors was established by a panel of industry leaders, university faculty, national lab leaders, and science facility project heads, including representatives from the MagLab.
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Imaging Enzyme Active Site Chemistry Using Multiple Fields up to 35.2T
19 April 2022
This new technique for mapping out atom placements in the active site of enzymes could unlock the potential for finding new therapeutics.
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Crossover Between Coupling Regimes
11 March 2022
Theory predicted that the transition between the superconducting and superfluid regimes should be continuous for electrons and holes in solid materials, but recent high magnetic field experiments performed by researchers from Columbia, Harvard and Brown Universities demonstrated the crossover between coupling regimes.
Featured Publications
The Blood Proteoform Atlas: A reference map of proteoforms in human blood cells, R. D. Melani, et al., Science, 375 (6579), 411-419, See Science Highlight or Read online
Crossover Between Strongly Coupled and Weakly Coupled Exciton Superfluids, X. Liu, et al., Science, 375 (6577), 205-209 (2022), See Science Highlight or Read online
Isolation of a Triplet Benzene Dianion, C. A. Gould, et al., Nature Chemistry, 13, 1001-1005 (2021), See Science Highlight or Read online
New correlated quasiparticles in an atomically-thin semiconductor, J. Li, et al., Nano Letters, 22, 426 (2022), See Science Highlight or Read online
Magnetostriction in AlFe2B2 at 25 T Measured by X-Ray Diffraction, S. Sharma, et al., Physical Review Materials, 5, 064409 (2021), See Science Highlight or Read online
Understanding How Fungi Build Their Cell Walls for Protection, A. Chakraborty, et al., Nature Communications, 12, 6346 (2021), See Science Highlight or Read online
Quantum Rivals in Nitride Materials, P. Dang, et al., Science Advances, 7 (8), eabf1388 (2021), See Science Highlight or Read online
Nb3Sn films via a novel hot-bronze method for compact accelerators, W. K. Withanage, et al., Superconductor Science and Technology, 34 (6), 06LT01 (2021), See Science Highlight or Read online
Unusual high-field state discovered in mineral atacamite, L. Heinze, et al., Physical Review Letters, 126 (20), 207201 (2021), See Science Highlight or Read online
Sunlight converts plastics into diverse chemical mixtures, A. N. Walsh, et al., Environ. Sci. Technol., 55 (18), 12383–12392 (2021), See Science Highlight or Read online
Absence of Weak-Links in Bi-2212 Round Wire, Y. Oz, et al., Phys. Rev. Materials, 5(7), 074803 (2021), See Science Highlight or Read online