This award from the National Science Foundation to Florida State University supports the renewed operation of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) for a five year period, 2008-2013. The Laboratory supports 7 High Magnetic Field User Programs across the three campuses of the NHMFL at Florida State University, the University of Florida, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Each user program is built around unique magnetic-field facilities and world-leading scientific expertise. These user programs are the Steady-State (DC) Resistive Electromagnets, Pulsed Electromagnets, Ultra-Low Temperature, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Electron Magnetic Resonance, Ion Cyclotron Resonance, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) User Programs. Access to the User Programs will be provided on a competitive basis to the most meritorious proposals submitted from an international and interdisciplinary scientific community spanning materials science, condensed matter physics, magnet technology, chemistry, and biology. The NHMFL's nationally recognized education and public outreach programs will utilize the laboratory's scientists, infrastructure, and Web site to target K-12 students, and undergraduates and teachers via the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) and Teachers (RET) programs, to expand research and mentorship programs for female or minority graduate students and early career scientists that are tailored to advance each individual's career goals. The laboratory will implement a diversity plan which is designed to put it in a leadership position in this regards.
The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) is a multi-user, multi-disciplinary facility that exists to provide high magnetic fields to researchers from across the globe. Over 1,300 scientists per year use the NHMFL to perform their research, publishing more than 400 peer-reviewed publications annually by making use of NHMFL magnets that are up to 2 million times more powerful than the Earth’s magnetic field. User facilities like the NHMFL allow researchers to investigate interdisciplinary scientific problems. Researchers visiting the NHMFL use their research time to explore promising new materials, pressing global energy problems and our understanding of the biochemistry that underlies living things. Magnets Explore Materials You cannot invent high-tech products without new materials and magnets help us discover and explore new materials and new behaviors that might one day be of technological importance. Magnetic fields have been vital to the development and understanding of electronics, lasers and fast optical switches used in the Internet, materials that have enabled products that have changed your life- and will continue to change it in ways we cannot yet imagine. Materials now studied in high magnetic fields include semiconductors which will become the foundation of future electronics and superconductors which are materials that conduct electricity without any friction- but only when they are kept very cold. Research is showing promise for superconductivity at higher temperatures, which could lead to smart electrical grids, power storage devices or magnetic levitation devices. Crystals with unusual optical, electrical and magnetic properties are researched in high magnetic fields for use in communications and computing applications. Buckyballs and buckytubes are two types of carbon-based molecules. Buckyballs could teach us about the earliest origins of life in the universe, and work on buckytubes could help make products stronger and lighter. Even natural products such as spider silk have amazing properties that could make electronics and computers that could bend and stretch like spandex. Finally, research on more powerful permanent magnetic materials will be key to improving the energy efficiency of motors everywhere, from car engines to air conditioners to robots. Magnets Explore Energy Creating, storing and conserving energy- a product for which there is limited supply and nearly unlimited demand- has been a topic of global conversation for decades. High magnetic fields are an essential tool for addressing a wide range of energy challenges. Scientists use high magnetic fields to better understand existing energy sources and to explore new ones. High magnetic field research is valuable for understanding crude oil and researchers visiting the NHMFL are learning how to optimize petroleum refining, minimize the impact of oil spills and convert plentiful, lower-quality crude oil into useable fuel. Data collected in high magnetic fields on next-generation fuels, from pine needles to algae, is providing important information on how we might diversify our energy sources. Other NHMFL users are studying the life cycle of lithium batteries and are seeking to develop more efficient fuel cells, each of which could fundamentally change the way we store and deliver energy. In fact, the creation of better energy storage is essential to the harnessing of clean wind and solar energy and is part of the fundamental research taking place at the NHMFL. Magnets Explore Life High magnetic fields are the force behind MRI- magnetic resonance imaging. Most hospital MRIs have a magnetic field measuring around 3 teslas. By comparison, at the NHMFL, MRI research is conducted up to 21 teslas, allowing us to pioneer "High-Definition MRI." Our customized magnet systems allow scientists visiting the NHMFL to study everything from whole, living animals to individual cells to tiny disease proteins. Basic research on sodium MRI of rat brain tumors using the 21 tesla MRI magnet is able to demonstrate whether chemotherapy is successfully attacking a tumor within a matter of days rather than the weeks or months required for conventional MRI. High magnetic fields enable scientists to map the structure of proteins on the surfaces of tuberculosis bacteria and the AIDS virus, which are important first research steps in the understanding required to one day develop new drugs to treat these global health threats. Specialized NHMFL tools and techniques are used by visiting scientists to study natural products, the many chemicals used by plants and animals to defend themselves against predators and disease, because some of these naturally occurring chemicals might eventually be found to have valuable pharmacological applications. Education and Outreach The NHMFL also aims to grow a new generation of scientists and offers many education and outreach programs to get students interested in careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Hundreds of undergraduate and grad students have been educated at the MagLab and scientific educational outreach is provided to over 10,000 K-12 students every year.
