High Magnetic Field Science
and Its Application in
the United States

CURRENT STATUS AND
FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Committee to Assess the Current Status and Future Direction of
High Magnetic Field Science in the United States

Board on Physics and Astronomy

Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

Washington, D.C.

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS   500 Fifth Street, NW   Washington, DC 20001

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMR-1108705 and by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant No. DE-SC0006889. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

Cover: Background image: Round wire Bi-2212, a new high field superconductor technology, courtesy of the Applied Superconductivity Center, National Magnetic Field Laboratory. Images from left to right: (1) Electronic band structure engineering, from B. Hunt, J.D. Sanchez-Yamagishi, A.F. Young, et al., 2013, Massive Dirac fermions and Hofstadter butterfly in a van der Waals heterostructure, Science 340:1427-1430; reprinted with permission from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). (2) Superconducting thick film (Ytrium-123), courtesy of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. (3) A bismuth atom, positioned in silicon crystal, whose nuclear spin potentially can host quantum information; artwork from the London Centre for Nanotechnology by Manuel Vögtli. (4) Close-up view of fiber tracts in the retina, courtesy of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-28634-3
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-28634-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013951030

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.

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COMMITTEE TO ASSESS THE CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE DIRECTION OF HIGH MAGNETIC FIELD SCIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES

BERTRAND I. HALPERIN, Harvard University, Chair

GABRIEL AEPPLI, University College of London

YOICHI ANDO, Osaka University

MEIGAN ARONSON, Stony Brook University

DIMITRI BASOV, University of California, San Diego

THOMAS F. BUDINGER, University of California, Berkeley

ROBERT DIMEO, National Institute of Standards and Technology

JOHN C. GORE, Vanderbilt University

FRANK HUNTE, North Carolina State University

CHUNG NING (JEANIE) LAU, University of California, Riverside

JAN CORNELIS MAAN, Radboud University Nijmegen

ANN MCDERMOTT, Columbia University

JOSEPH MINERVINI, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

BOARD ON PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

PHILIP H. BUCKSBAUM, Stanford University, Chair

DEBRA M. ELMEGREEN, Vassar College, Vice Chair

RICARDO BETI, University of Rochester

ADAM S. BURROWS, Princeton University

TOD DITMIRE, University of Texas, Austin

NATHANIEL J. FISCH, Princeton University

PAUL FLEURY, Yale University

STUART FREEDMAN, University of California, Berkeley

S. JAMES GATES, University of Maryland

LAURA H. GREENE, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

MARTHA P. HAYNES, Cornell University

MARK B. KETCHEN, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center

MONICA OLVERA DE LA CRUZ, Northwestern University

PAUL SCHECHTER, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

BORIS SHRAIMAN, Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics

MICHAEL S. TURNER, University of Chicago

ELLEN D. WILLIAMS, PB International

MICHAEL S. WITHERELL, University of California, Santa Barbara

   Staff

JAMES C. LANCASTER, Director

DONALD C. SHAPERO, Senior Scholar

DAVID B. LANG, Program Officer

CARYN J. KNUTSEN, Associate Program Officer

TERI G. THOROWGOOD, Administrative Coordinator

BETH DOLAN, Financial Associate

ZLATKO B. TESANOVIC
1956-2012

The Committee to Assess the Current Status and Future Direction of High Magnetic Field Science in the United States dedicates this report to a dear friend and valued colleague, Zlatko Tesanovic, who served as a member of this committee, and contributed strongly to it, until his untimely death on July 26, 2012. Zlatko was a condensed matter theorist, with particular research interests in the areas of superconductivity and strongly correlated electron materials. However, his broad knowledge of condensed matter physics, his deep understanding of the effects of strong magnetic fields, and his talent for exposition were influential throughout this report.

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Preface

High-field magnets have become an important research tool in many scientific disciplines. Originally developed for studying the characteristics of materials under extreme conditions, they have increasingly been used by other disciplines, including biology, chemistry, and geology, and have found applications beyond basic science, serving many applied fields from medicine to the petroleum industry. In the United States, high-magnetic-field research principally takes place at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL), operated under the auspices of the National Science Foundation (NSF). In the more than 20 years that it has been in existence, NHMFL has emerged as the leading facility in the world for providing researchers, and others, access to the highest magnetic fields available while working at the forefront of developing magnet technology for future users.

In line with this investment, the U.S. government has periodically commissioned a review of the current status and future prospects of the field. The most recent previous review was commissioned in 2003 and its conclusions were published in the National Research Council report Opportunities in High Magnetic Field Science (The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2005). At the request of NSF, the National Research Council established the current committee in the spring of 2012 to provide an updated review. The Committee to Assess the Current Status and Future Direction of High Magnetic Field Science in the United States was asked to assess the needs of the U.S. research community for high magnetic fields and to determine the status and identify trends in the use of high magnetic fields throughout science and technology. Based on its assessment, the committee was asked to provide guidance for the future of magnetic-field research and technology

Acknowledgment of Reviewers

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

Amy Andreotti, Iowa State University,
Helene Benveniste, Brookhaven National Laboratory,
Collin Broholm, Johns Hopkins University;
Laura Greene, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
Neil Kelleher, Northwestern University,
Robert Lindeman, Northrop Grumman (retired),
D. Bruce Montgomery, Magplane Technology,
Andrew Sessler, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and
Mansour Shayegan, Princeton University.

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The

review of this report was overseen by John F. Ahearne, Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. Appointed by the NRC, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

Contents