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The MagLab is funded by the National Science Foundation and the State of Florida.

Science Highlights

These monthly highlights, selected by MagLab Director Greg Boebinger, represent the most promising and cutting-edge research underway in the lab’s seven user facilities.


The colored regions of the protein in the above schematic were revealed to be interacting with the polymer

December 12, 2022

Atomic-Level Insights into How Polymers Improve Protein Therapeutics

Using NMR, researchers determined a molecular model of a protein-polymer conjugate, providing new insights into how polymers can be used to make prote…


Voltages recorded from a protective quench from the upper-most 9 modules in the outer coil

December 12, 2022

"Resistive Insulation" Test Coil for Future 40T All-Superconducting Magnet

A 19 T high-field magnet made with REBCO high-temperature superconductor, but without electrical insulation, was tested to see if it is a viable desig…


Left: A zeolite micropore and pair of active sites. Right: The signal-to-noise and spectral resolution in 17O NMR spectra is significantly enhanced at higher magnetic fields.

November 14, 2022

17O Labeling Reveals Paired Active Sites in Zeolite Catalysts

Zeolite catalysts are critical to generating the molecules that provide the building blocks of society’s energy and materials needs. Discerning a clea…


BCS (left) refers to a conventional Bardeen-Schrieffer-Cooper state (i.e. weak pairing state) found in most superconductors, while BEC (right) refers to the strong pairing limit of a Bose-Einstein Condensate.

November 14, 2022

Magic Gap Ratio at the "BCS Superconducting to Bose-Einstein Condensate" Crossover in the High-Tc Cuprates

A defining experimental signature of a crossover in the strength of the pairing interactions from the weak coupling BCS to the strong coupling Bose-Ei…


Fermi surfaces calculated from angle dependent magnetoresistance (ADMR) data (left) inside the pseudogap phase at p=0.21, showing four small pockets (resembling those that would be created by antiferromagnetism) and (right) outside the pseudogap phase at p=0.24, showing the single large pocket of a simple metal.

October 18, 2022

Fermi Surface Transforms at the Onset of the Pseudogap State in a Cuprate Superconductor

In high-temperature superconductors, a region exists between the superconducting and normal states known as the pseudogap state. Using the 45T hybrid …


Coal tar pavement sealant contains 50,000 to 75,000 ppm of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Weathering by sunlight and rain can contaminate natural waterways through oxidation of the PAHs contained in the pavement sealant.

October 18, 2022

Pavement Sealant Leaches Environmental Contaminants

New research shows that high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) found in coal tar pavement sealants are oxidized into toxic, wa…


Pulsed electron spin-echo spectra recorded at 94GHz and 5K, for the three compounds shown.

September 12, 2022

A Quantum Development: Massive Hyperfine Interaction in a Lu(II) Qubit

Electron spin coherence was enhanced through engineering of so-called clock transitions in molecular magnets, an advance in quantum computing strategi…


Diffusion MR microscopy of a sea slug neuron at 7.8 μM resolution (left) The cellular structures can also be identified using 40X traditional light microscopy (right).

September 12, 2022

Mystery of the Origin of MRI Signal in Stroke Solved

MRI scans taken after a stroke show brightness around the injury, the origins of which have been a long-standing and vexatious mystery for scientists.…


A Conductor on Round Core

September 12, 2022

High Temperature Superconducting CORC® Cabling Technology

Large superconducting magnets need multi-conductor cables, which act like multi-lane freeways to allow electricity to switch lanes if one gets blocked…


A schematic model for the hydrated phospholipid bilayer, which is a model of biological membranes.

August 15, 2022

Finding Water Molecules with Important Biological Activity

A new 17O solid-state NMR technique, employed on the highest-field NMR spectrometer in the world (the 36 T Series Connected Hybrid), identifies water …


Electron microscope images of Glidcop® conductor

August 15, 2022

Studying the Microstructure of Glidcop® AL-60 Conductor

The MagLab's ultrahigh-field pulsed magnets require materials with both high mechanical strength and high electrical conductivity. One of these materi…


Sketch of the two fluids in YbB12 showing their densities of states

July 18, 2022

Unconventional Charge Transport in Kondo insulator YbB12

Three complementary measurements in intense magnetic fields shed light on a very unusual material that behaves like a metal, but does not conduct elec…


Network diagram suggesting the presence of sulfur-containing (black) PFAS chemicals with a range of perfluoroalkyl (CF2, blue) and ethoxy (C2H4O, orange) chain lengths.

July 18, 2022

A Deep Dive Into Forever Chemical Dark Matter

Using the world's most powerful mass spectrometer, scientists have developed a new method to profile complex PFAS mixtures at the molecular level, fac…


Carlos R. Villa

June 21, 2022

MagLab Educator Wins Tallahassee Scientific Society Gold Medal Award

MagLab K-12 educator Carlos R. Villa is awarded Gold Medal from Tallahassee Scientific Society. 


Three different measurement configurations for which one can realize nonreciprocity in Ni3TeO6

June 17, 2022

One-way Optical Transparency at Telecommunications Wavelengths

Generally, light transmission is symmetrical - it's the same if you shine a light through a material forward or backwards. Using powerful pulsed field…


The NMR experiments revealed that formation of the liquid and hydrogel states of FUS is controlled by phosphorylation and stabilized by hydrogen bonding among a core region of 57 amino acids.

June 17, 2022

NMR FAIR Data: Phase-Separation Properties of an RNA-Binding Protein

Evolutionary biologists reused FAIR data generated at the MagLab's NMR facility to model an RNA-binding protein in mammals dating back 160 million yea…


FIRMS map

May 16, 2022

Vibronic Coupling in a Molecular Magnet

Using far-infared magnetospectroscopy in high magnetic fields, scientists probed coupled electronic and vibrational modes in a molecular magnet that a…


Peatland locations and sites tested

May 16, 2022

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide from Peat Wetland Ecosystems

Understanding the organic composition of peat wetland soils can determine whether the carbon sources may be converted into carbon dioxide gas, work th…


Florida A&M University undergraduate students

May 16, 2022

Magnetic Momentum Scholars Program: Diversifying Innovation in STEM

This new MagLab program pairs Florida A&M University undergraduate students with MagLab STEM mentors for a rotational internship experience that e…


The protein tryptophan synthase showing the active site (red) with hydrogen atoms.

April 19, 2022

Imaging Enzyme Active Site Chemistry Using Multiple Fields up to 35.2T

This new technique for mapping out atom placements in the active site of enzymes could unlock the potential for finding new therapeutics.


Attendees at the historic workshop held at Tufts University in March 2022.

April 19, 2022

Addressing Supply Chain Challenges for Advanced Superconductors

The start of a sustainable business model for manufacturing advanced superconductors was established by a panel of industry leaders, university facult…


Schematic of excitons forming between two graphene layers. Schematic of excitons forming between two graphene layers

March 11, 2022

Crossover Between Coupling Regimes

Theory predicted that the transition between the superconducting and superfluid regimes should be continuous for electrons and holes in solid material…


The Human Proteoform Project separates cell types found in blood.

March 11, 2022

The Blood Proteoform Atlas: A reference map of proteoforms in human blood cells

A new Blood Proteoform Atlas maps 30,000 unique proteoforms as they appear in 21 different cell types found in human blood. The MagLab's 21 tesla FT-I…


The six-carbon benzene ring (highlighted in green) is stabilized via the surrounding rigid ligand scaffold, with the pair of metal ions (M = Y or Gd) above and below, further promoting the magnetic (triplet) ground state. The delocalized nature (aromaticity) of the unpaired electrons manifests as an equalization of the carbon-carbon bond lengths (right), resulting in an undistorted ring structure

February 09, 2022

Isolation of a Triplet Benzene Dianion

High-magnetic-field, high-frequency electron paramagnetic resonance demonstrates how coordination chemistry can be leveraged to stabilize a desired el…


The data show that when light creates an “exciton” in the WSe2, it interacts simultaneously with not just one but multiple reservoirs of electrons, each with a different set of spin (up or down) and momentum (+K or –K) degrees of freedom.

February 09, 2022

New Correlated Quasiparticles in an Atomically-Thin Semiconductor

A new class of correlated quasiparticle states discovered in a multi-valley semiconductor using optical absorption measurements in pulsed magnetic fie…


X-ray source (green arrow) with evacuated X-ray beam tunnel (blue arrow) leading to the two-meter-tall 25T Florida Split Helix Magnet (red arrow).

January 25, 2022

Magnetostriction in AlFe2B2 at 25 T Measured by X-Ray Diffraction

Using X-ray diffraction, scientists can now detect atoms themselves moving further apart or closer together in high magnetic fields, giving science a …


Structural model of fungal cell walls supported by extensive solid-state NMR data.

January 25, 2022

Understanding How Fungi Build Their Cell Walls for Protection

Scientists have used high-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to reveal how fungal pathogens use carbohydrates and proteins to build their cell wal…


Last modified on 09 April 2024