Final Report Summary - EUROMAGNET II (A coordinated approach to access, experimental development and scientific exploitation of all European large infrastructures for high magnetic fields)
Executive Summary:
EuromagNET2: A coordinated approach to access, experimental development and scientific exploitation of all European large infrastructures for high magnetic fields.
A magnetic field is a very powerful thermodynamic parameter to influence the state of any material system. Consequently magnetic fields serve as an experimental tool in very diverse research areas like condensed matter physics, molecular physics, chemistry and, with increasing importance, in biology. The versatility and the universality of magnetic fields as a research tool lies in their coupling to the charge and the spin of the particles that constitute the matter that surrounds us. Many magnetic field based research techniques are standard and can be done with conventional commercially available magnets and associated equipment (MRI-scanners, NMR and ESR spectrometers, conventional superconducting magnets, etc.). On the other hand there are many cases where very high magnetic fields, only available in a few specialized facilities, are essential and where the prospect of new discoveries is often the greatest. This scientific motivation has always formed a strong drive to develop techniques and installations to generate the highest possible magnetic fields and to perform experiments with them. In recent surveys, both by the European Science Foundation (ESF, «The Scientific Case for a European Laboratory for 100T Science», 1998) and by the USA National Research Council («Opportunities in High Magnetic Field Sciences», COHMAG 2005), a compelling case has been made for high magnetic fields as a research tool for a wide variety of research topics and strong recommendations were made to stimulate high magnetic field infrastructures. In this spirit, the EuroMagNET2 IA was created to improve the performance and utility of the European high field facilities and to better serve the European high field user community.
Project Context and Objectives:
The main objectives and the main results of the EuroMagNET II integrating activity are:
(1) to stimulate and to coordinate the transnational access to all European large infrastructures for high magnetic fields in order to optimally use the capacity and optimally satisfy the users’ needs. A common access request procedure and a common selection committee have been created to guarantee this. During this IA, eleven calls for magnet time proposals have been issued and 86% more access has been provided to the European users than foreseen by the EC contract.
(2) to structure and to expand the high field user community by stimulating the exchange of information between high field user groups, the high field facilities and other potentially interested scientific communities. This has been implemented through the organisation of three thematic workshops and three summer schools, the organisation of five user meetings, the attribution of secondment funding, and the publication of a quarterly magazine on new developments at the EuroMagNET2 facilities, that is freely distributed among all potential European high magnetic field users.
(3) to develop new and advanced experimental possibilities as well as improved magnet performance at the EuroMagNET2 infrastructures by joint research activities involving facilities and user groups. These activities will improve the quality of existing instrumentation and will create unique instrumental possibilities, to better serve the existing users and to further attract new users.
Three joint research activities (JRA) are implemented:
High Field User Magnet Technology and Operation
The central tools of all high field science are the magnets and their power supplies. The focus of this JRA is to jointly enhance the performance, reliability, and ergonomics of the technical installations in the European high field facilities for the benefit of the user community. Important improvements in field noise and drift have been obtained, a detailed study of the heat exchange in DC magnets has been performed and sSeveral special purpose magnets have been designed, built and tested, like radial access pulsed magnets for use in Xray, neutron and laser scattering experiments, and improved homogeneity magnets for pulsed field NMR.
Nano object measurements and local spectroscopy
An important trend in modern science is the investigation of smaller and smaller structures with properties determined by a nano-sized group of atoms or molecules. Examples are semiconductor quantum dots, organic nanostructures and carbon-based systems like nanotubes and graphene. To unravel their electrical, optical and magnetic properties it is crucial to measure the response of individual nanostructures. The objective of this JRA is to develop new experimental techniques, adapted to the very heavy spatial and temporal constraints of high field magnets, to determine the properties of individual nanostructures and to perform local spectroscopy. During this JRA, setups to perform transport measurements on single nano-objects in pulsed magnetic fields, and single nano-object luminescence and Kerr imaging in DC fields were built and tested and made available for use by external users.
Enhanced Sensitivity and Single Scan NMR (ES3-NMR)
The aim of this JRA is to jointly develop the necessary instrumentation for cost-efficient NMR experiments in ultra-high magnetic fields and to make it available to the high field user community. The focus of this JRA is the enhancement of the NMR sensitivity, to compensate for the high cost of resistive DC magnetic fields and the limited duty cycles of pulsed magnetic fields. During this JRA, setups for doing single-scan free induction decay experiments in pulsed magnetic fields have been completed and used for experiments on a realistic sample, a cuprate high Tc superconductor. Several methods to improve NMR sensitivity and throughput, like cryogenic low noise preamplifiers, dynamic nuclear polarization and µMAS have been realized.the first pulsed field experiment on a realistic sample, a cuprate high Tc superconductor, was successfully performed.
Project Results:
See the attached publishable final report for the main results of each activities of EuroMagNET project.
Potential Impact:
See the attached publishable final report.
List of Websites:
http://www.euromagnet2.eu/
geert.rikken@lncmi.cnrs.fr
EuromagNET2: A coordinated approach to access, experimental development and scientific exploitation of all European large infrastructures for high magnetic fields.
A magnetic field is a very powerful thermodynamic parameter to influence the state of any material system. Consequently magnetic fields serve as an experimental tool in very diverse research areas like condensed matter physics, molecular physics, chemistry and, with increasing importance, in biology. The versatility and the universality of magnetic fields as a research tool lies in their coupling to the charge and the spin of the particles that constitute the matter that surrounds us. Many magnetic field based research techniques are standard and can be done with conventional commercially available magnets and associated equipment (MRI-scanners, NMR and ESR spectrometers, conventional superconducting magnets, etc.). On the other hand there are many cases where very high magnetic fields, only available in a few specialized facilities, are essential and where the prospect of new discoveries is often the greatest. This scientific motivation has always formed a strong drive to develop techniques and installations to generate the highest possible magnetic fields and to perform experiments with them. In recent surveys, both by the European Science Foundation (ESF, «The Scientific Case for a European Laboratory for 100T Science», 1998) and by the USA National Research Council («Opportunities in High Magnetic Field Sciences», COHMAG 2005), a compelling case has been made for high magnetic fields as a research tool for a wide variety of research topics and strong recommendations were made to stimulate high magnetic field infrastructures. In this spirit, the EuroMagNET2 IA was created to improve the performance and utility of the European high field facilities and to better serve the European high field user community.
Project Context and Objectives:
The main objectives and the main results of the EuroMagNET II integrating activity are:
(1) to stimulate and to coordinate the transnational access to all European large infrastructures for high magnetic fields in order to optimally use the capacity and optimally satisfy the users’ needs. A common access request procedure and a common selection committee have been created to guarantee this. During this IA, eleven calls for magnet time proposals have been issued and 86% more access has been provided to the European users than foreseen by the EC contract.
(2) to structure and to expand the high field user community by stimulating the exchange of information between high field user groups, the high field facilities and other potentially interested scientific communities. This has been implemented through the organisation of three thematic workshops and three summer schools, the organisation of five user meetings, the attribution of secondment funding, and the publication of a quarterly magazine on new developments at the EuroMagNET2 facilities, that is freely distributed among all potential European high magnetic field users.
(3) to develop new and advanced experimental possibilities as well as improved magnet performance at the EuroMagNET2 infrastructures by joint research activities involving facilities and user groups. These activities will improve the quality of existing instrumentation and will create unique instrumental possibilities, to better serve the existing users and to further attract new users.
Three joint research activities (JRA) are implemented:
High Field User Magnet Technology and Operation
The central tools of all high field science are the magnets and their power supplies. The focus of this JRA is to jointly enhance the performance, reliability, and ergonomics of the technical installations in the European high field facilities for the benefit of the user community. Important improvements in field noise and drift have been obtained, a detailed study of the heat exchange in DC magnets has been performed and sSeveral special purpose magnets have been designed, built and tested, like radial access pulsed magnets for use in Xray, neutron and laser scattering experiments, and improved homogeneity magnets for pulsed field NMR.
Nano object measurements and local spectroscopy
An important trend in modern science is the investigation of smaller and smaller structures with properties determined by a nano-sized group of atoms or molecules. Examples are semiconductor quantum dots, organic nanostructures and carbon-based systems like nanotubes and graphene. To unravel their electrical, optical and magnetic properties it is crucial to measure the response of individual nanostructures. The objective of this JRA is to develop new experimental techniques, adapted to the very heavy spatial and temporal constraints of high field magnets, to determine the properties of individual nanostructures and to perform local spectroscopy. During this JRA, setups to perform transport measurements on single nano-objects in pulsed magnetic fields, and single nano-object luminescence and Kerr imaging in DC fields were built and tested and made available for use by external users.
Enhanced Sensitivity and Single Scan NMR (ES3-NMR)
The aim of this JRA is to jointly develop the necessary instrumentation for cost-efficient NMR experiments in ultra-high magnetic fields and to make it available to the high field user community. The focus of this JRA is the enhancement of the NMR sensitivity, to compensate for the high cost of resistive DC magnetic fields and the limited duty cycles of pulsed magnetic fields. During this JRA, setups for doing single-scan free induction decay experiments in pulsed magnetic fields have been completed and used for experiments on a realistic sample, a cuprate high Tc superconductor. Several methods to improve NMR sensitivity and throughput, like cryogenic low noise preamplifiers, dynamic nuclear polarization and µMAS have been realized.the first pulsed field experiment on a realistic sample, a cuprate high Tc superconductor, was successfully performed.
Project Results:
See the attached publishable final report for the main results of each activities of EuroMagNET project.
Potential Impact:
See the attached publishable final report.
List of Websites:
http://www.euromagnet2.eu/
geert.rikken@lncmi.cnrs.fr
