A team of Chinese researchers has managed to build the most powerful superconducting magnet ever created. This means it is so powerful that its magnetic field is more than 700,000 times stronger than Earth’s magnetic field. And even though it may seem like we are making this up, because we are not able to imagine what that really means, it means they will be able to recreate extreme conditions inside a laboratory.

It was the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and they have confirmed that the magnet reached 35.6 teslas during tests. The Earth’s magnetic field is around 50 microteslas. It is like comparing a breeze to a hurricane. Are you getting it? We will explain it anyway!

A record

The key is not only what they have done, but how they have done it. This superconducting magnet is built without resistive components, which means it loses less energy during use, achieving greater stability and much higher efficiency.

While other systems need much more complex combinations to reach magnetic fields at this level, this one does it using only superconductors. It is much cleaner, but also much more difficult.

I do not understand anything…

Okay, that does not surprise us. Let’s talk in terms we know. Tesla (T) is the unit used to measure magnetic fields in the SI system, although it might sound more familiar to you as the name of a car. To give you some context, here are some clear examples:

Earth’s magnetic field: about 50 microteslas (0.00005 T)
Household magnet: about 0.01 to 0.1 T
MRI scan: 1.5 to 3 T
Powerful industrial magnets: 10 T or more

So, considering that an MRI ranges between 1.5 and 3 teslas, this Chinese magnet multiplies the most advanced magnets so far, 7 T, by five.

And what is this for?

This magnet is located in a facility called the Synergetic Extreme Condition User Facility in Beijing, and it is an open project in which any scientist in the world can participate.

It has a central channel of just 3.5 centimeters where samples can be inserted and exposed to this magnetic field.

An “impossible” laboratory

This magnet maintains the same values for more than 200 consecutive hours. At these levels of intensity, any fluctuation can ruin an experiment or damage the system, so maintaining those levels is a great achievement.

The best thing about this experiment is that it can be combined with ultra low temperatures or very extreme pressures. That is, thanks to it, conditions that until now only existed in equations can be studied.

But what is it useful for?

To be able to understand how electrons, atoms and other materials behave when they are pushed to the limit. From this, the following can be derived:

Many of the technologies we use daily today were born in experiments with no immediate practical use, so we could be heading down the same path.

A collective achievement

The project is the result of collaboration between several institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Some were in charge of the design, others of measurement control and stability. Many minds worked on this project, and that collaboration was a complete success because it delivered results.

The rest of the world

This experiment will help physicists understand much deeper laws of the universe, because now they will be able to push materials to their limits. And of course, the whole world is watching China, because they are the ones who have developed the most in these strategic and advanced areas. Yes, geopolitics also plays a very important role here…

Now science knows that there is something beyond known limits, and that these limits can be observed, analyzed and “exploited”. Will we understand more about our own universe this way?