Generation of high magnetic fields using superconducting magnets

High-field superconducting magnets have opened new frontiers for several kinds of applications, such as fusion reactors, particle accelerators, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers. The present record for the highest field in a fully superconducting state is 23.4 T. It was achieved with a combination of NbTi, Nb3Sn, and Bi-2212 conductors in 1999. Since high T, (critical temperature) superconductors (HTS) have sufficiently high critical current density even in excess of 30 T, they are promising for use as high-field superconducting magnets. However, several problems still remain to be resolved for practical applications, and the use of HTS coils will be limited to the inner part of a high-field magnet system in the near future. The required technologies to develop a high-field superconducting magnet with a field of up to 28 T have already been established. Such a magnet is certain to provide information to all leading research areas. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.