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FSU Scientists Claim Creation Of World's Most Powerful Continuous Field Magnet

Kristin Roberts
/
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Scientists at Florida State University have created the world’s most powerful continuous field magnet magnet. It’s capable of generating a 45.5-tesla field. Chief Materials Scientist David Larbalestier explains what that could mean for the future.

"You could use power transmission without any loss using yttrium barium copper oxide power cables. You could make transformers, you could make motors, you could make other interesting devices such as fault current limiters out of these," explained Larbalestier.

He says he doesn’t expect to see this anytime soon because the materials are very expensive. But says if the materials processing people can create it at an affordable cost, it could be used for more than just demonstration.

*Correction: The original version of this story noted the magnet as a superconducting magnent. It is a continuous field magnent. 

Blaise Gainey is a State Government Reporter for WFSU News. Blaise hails from Windermere, Florida. He graduated from The School of Journalism at the Florida A&M University. He formerly worked for The Florida Channel, WTXL-TV, and before graduating interned with WFSU News. He is excited to return to the newsroom. In his spare time he enjoys watching sports, Netflix, outdoor activities and anything involving his daughter.