Japanese Physicists Generate Strongest Magnetic Field Ever Achieved Indoors

Sci-News.com ^ | Sept 18, 2018 | News Staff / Source

[ETL]

Physicists from the Institute for Solid State Physics at the University of Tokyo, Japan, have recorded the largest magnetic field ever generated indoors — a whopping 1,200 T (tesla)

“Magnetic fields are one of the fundamental properties of a physical environment,” said lead author Dr. Daisuke Nakamura and colleagues.

“They can be controlled with high precision and interact directly with electronic orbitals and spins; this makes them indispensable for research in areas of solid state physics such as magnetic materials, superconductors, semiconductors, strongly correlated electron materials, and other nanomaterials.”

The researchers generated ultrahigh magnetic fields using the electromagnetic flux-compression (EMFC) technique.

“We developed a high performance EMFC instrument to generate a megagauss magnetic field,” they said.

“The conversion efficiency of the electric energy stored in condenser banks to the imploding liner kinetic energy was found to be substantially improved in comparison to those in previous instruments.”

“The magnetic field was measured by the reflection-type Faraday rotation probe using an optical fiber, and a peak field of 1,200 T was recorded.”

By comparison, this is a field strength about 400 times higher than those generated by the huge, powerful magnets used in modern hospital MRI machines, and it is about 50 million times stronger than the Earth’s own magnetic field.

Stronger magnetic fields have previously been achieved in outdoor experiments using chemical explosives, but this is a world record for magnetic fields generated indoors in a controlled manner.

That greater control means the discovery could open new frontiers in solid-state physics, perhaps allowing scientists to reach what is known as the ‘quantum limit,’ a condition where all the electrons in a material are confined to the lowest ground state, where exotic quantum phenomena may appear.

“This work opens up a new scientific horizon and has pushed the envelope for ultrahigh magnetic fields,” Dr. Nakamura said.

[ETL]

New article (today)

Nuclear Pasta: Exotic Substance in Neutron Stars’ Crust May Be Universe’s Strongest Material

Sep 19, 2018 by News Staff / Source

An international team of researchers from McGill University, California Institute of Technology and Indiana University has calculated the strength of nuclear pasta — extremely dense material deep inside the crust of neutron stars.

The results, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, show that nuclear pasta may be the strongest known material in the Universe, with a shear modulus of up to 1030 ergs/cm3 and breaking strain greater than 0.1.

http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/nuclear-pasta-06423.html

[ETL]

Also today...

Hubble Detects Unusual Infrared Emission from Nearby Neutron Star

Sep 18, 2018 by News Staff

An unusual infrared emission from the neutron star RX J0806.4-4123 detected by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope could indicate new features never before seen: one possibility is that there is a disk of material surrounding the neutron star; another is that there is an energetic wind coming off RX J0806.4-4123 and slamming into gas in interstellar space the neutron star is plowing through.

http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/hubble-infrared-emission-neutron-star-06417.html

[zeestephen]

Thanks again, ETL.

Just like Rebelbase, I have found Free Republic to be an amazing resource for science and engineering education.

Unfortunately, in recent years, we have lost a number of our very best and most prolific STEM posters and expert commenters.

Besides ETL, a few of my favorites are still here, like SunkenCiv, who has opened the universe of archeology and anthropology to hundreds of Freepers.

[numberonepal]

Magnets have always seemed magical to me.

I have two in the garage I'm terrified of.

[numberonepal]

Magnets have always seemed magical to me.

I have two in the garage I'm terrified of.