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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Nuclear Spin Patterning Controls Electron Spin Coherence
31 January 2020
Electron spin resonance work shows how transition metal can retain quantum information, important work on the path to next-generation quantum technologies.
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Brain Waste Pathway Found
23 January 2020
Little is known about the path of metabolic waste clearance from the brain. Here, high-field magnetic resonance images a possible pathway for metabolic waste removal from the brain and suggests that waste clearance may be one reason why we sleep.
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Nematic Phase Weakens Superconductivity
23 January 2020
A nematic phase is where the molecular/atomic dynamics show elements of both liquids and solids, like in liquid crystal displays on digital watches or calculators. Using high magnetic fields and high pressure, researchers probed the electronic states of an iron-based superconductor and found that its nematic state weakened superconductivity.
Featured Publications
Nuclear Spin Patterning Controls Electron Spin Coherence , C.E. Jackson, et al., , Chem. Sci., 10 (36), 8447-8454 (2019) See Science Highlight or Read online
Influence of a nematic phase on high-temperature superconductivity , P. Reiss, et al., Nature Physics, 28, Oct (2019) See Science Highlight or Read online
High Magnetic Field MRI Evidences Pathwaysfor Metabolic Brain Waste Clearance, K. N. Magdoom, et al., Nature Scientific Reports, 9, 11480 (2019) See Science Highlight or Read online
Liquid State Dynamic Nuclear Polarization at High Magnetic Field, T. Dubroca, et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys, 21 21200-21204 (2019) See Science Highlight or Read online
Hafnium greatly improves Nb3Sn superconductor for high field magnets, S. Balachandran, et al., Superconductor Science and Technology,32, 044006 (2019) See Science Highlight or Read online
Why does magnetic switching occur at such high magnetic fields in Sr3NiIrO6? , K.R. O'Neal, et al., njp Quantum Materials,4, 48 (2019) See Science Highlight or Read online
Identification of abnormal hemoglobin from human blood , L. He, et al., Clinical Chemistry,65 (8), 986-994 (2019) See Science Highlight or Read online
Topological structural defects in the spin liquid candidate TbInO3 , J.W. Kim, et al., Phys. Rev. X, 9, 031005 (2019) See Science Highlight or Read online
Luttinger liquid behavior of helium-three in nanotubes , J. Adams, et al., J. Low Temp. Phys., 196 (1-2), 308-313 (2019) See Science Highlight or Read online
Ultra-high magnetic fields provide new insights into bone-like materials, C. Bonhomme, et al., Chemical Communications, 54 (69), 9591-9594 (2018) See Science Highlight or Read online