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The first researchers to use the new Oxford Instruments high-field superconducting magnet at Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron facility, are searching for “hidden magnetic states”. If found, they will provide important confirmation of a theoretical model which could have important applications in magnetic data storage. Diamond’s BLADE beamline is providing them with the tools for the search.
Consisting of physicists from the University of Southampton, the Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford and the Magnetic Spectroscopy Group at Diamond, the collaboration is looking for a “hidden magnetic state” in a type of magnet that has been identified as an ideal candidate for data storage. The composition of this magnet is such that it provides sufficient energy barriers to prevent thermally activated data loss, with the potential to relieve the present limit on the storage density of hard disk drives.
“The first results on the new high-field superconducting magnet represent an important milestone, not only for the beamline, but for the whole of Diamond. Its magnetic field of 14 Tesla is 300,000 times stronger than the earth’s magnetic field, and about six times stronger than the saturation magnetization of high purity iron. It will also record the lowest temperature at Diamond of 300 milliKelvin – a chilling minus 272.85 degrees Celsius. The team has worked hard to achieve this milestone and we are really pleased to see that BLADE is playing a key role in important new physics.”Senior Beamline Scientist on BLADE, Dr Peter Bencok
The superconducting magnet system was supplied by Oxford Instruments and achieved challenging specifications highlighted below:
The system was delivered on time and matched or exceeded Diamond’s specifications.
Diamond Light Source is the UK's national synchrotron science facility, located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.
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