The record for the most powerful magnetic field surrounded
by a superconductor has been broken. Once this would have been a typical event,
with records dropping regularly, but this was the first time in eleven years development
has been made. Superconductors are distinct by their capacity to conduct
electricity with no resistance whatsoever. They also disturb magnetic fields,
but their superconductivity is subtle both to warm temperatures and to huge
magnetic fields. The record field of 17.2 Tesla was established in 2003, and regardless
of many efforts the record stood until Professor David Cardwell declared in
Superconductor Science and Technology that his group at Cambridge University
had accomplished a field of 17.6T. “High” temperature superconductors, ones
that work over the boiling point of liquid nitrogen (-196°C ) are prepared of
metal oxides, but we have a poor understanding of which metal mixtures will
work finest.
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Image Credit:
University of Cambridge, CC-BY. Superconductors can ascend magnets by ejecting
magnetic fields, and can also trap them.
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