NRC Proposal for High-magnetic Field Research in the United States

The United States' National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) hosts an international user community that spans condensed matter physics, materials research, chemistry, biology and biomedicine. We have developed a variety of unique magnets in service to our user community, ranging from the highest fields (21T) available for vertebrate MRI to the non-destructive generation of pulsed magnetic fields exceeding two million times the Earth's magnetic field. This talk seeks to answer the question "Why would anyone want to do such things?", which is curiously the same question taken up by the recent NRC "MagSci" study. Particular focus will be given to the role of high-temperature superconductors (HTS) and HTS technologies required for the development of next-generation magnets proposed in the MagSci study.