On March 18, under the headline ofNew World Record 'China High Magnetic Field', Hubei Daily reported the touching story of the hard work of Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center (WHMFC). The following is the original report:
On the morning of March 15,at WHMFC of HUST, several staff members were sitting in front of eight monitors in the control center, comparing experimental data on the computers.
In 2020, overcoming the impact of the epidemic, the pulsed high magnetic field facility implemented 6,262 effective operating hours and completed 101 scientific experiments for 31 research institutions at home and abroad.
Over the past 7 years, this major facility has not only ended China's long-term dependence on foreign facilities for related research, but also become a world-class pulsed magnetic field facility, which is widely recognized.
staff members comparing experimental data in the control center
Set many world records
The high magnetic field is millions of times higher than the earth's magnetic field. What changes will happen to the matter in it? Li Liang, director of WHMFC, made a metaphor, which is like under the "magnifying glass", the microstructure of matter is unobstructed. The higher the magnetic field, the higher the magnification, the clearer the clarity, and the more accurate the research. When matter is in a high magnetic field, the internal electronic structure may also change, resulting in new phenomena.
WHMFC was established in Hubei Province in 2008, which is the first national large-scale science project among Chinese universities and the only national major science and technology infrastructure for pulsed high magnetic field in China. From 75T in 2009 (T is "tesla", one tesla is equivalent to 20,000 times of the magnetic induction of the earth) to 90.6T in 2013, the magnetic field intensity of the center has been breaking records. In 2014, it passed the national acceptance and opened to the public scientific researchers from both at home and abroad, ending the history of China's long-term dependence on foreign facilities. In 2018, it also created the world record of 64T high flat-top magnetic field, pushing China's high magnetic field technology into the forefront of the world.
With a huge "highmagnetic force", the center attracts research institutions and professionals from all over the world to conduct cutting-edge basic scientific research under extreme experimental conditions such as ultra-high magnetic fields, extremely low temperatures, and ultra-high pressures. Only in February this year, Professor Suchitra E. Sebastian's team from the University of Cambridge and Functional Thin Film Materials Research Group from Tsinghua University successively published their latest research achievements in international authoritative journals, all of which were based on the data collected in WHMFC.
By the end of 2020, the center has opened and operated 55,412 hours of the pulsed high magnetic field facility, carried out 1,258 research projects for 97 universities and research institutes at home and abroad, received fruitful achievements in in cutting-edge research fields such as high-temperature superconductivity, topological semimetals, molecular magnets and graphene, and published 1,016 SCI papers in high-level journals, which has effectively promoted the development of basic frontier disciplines in China.
Regardless of the research output, openness and research topics, compared with similar international devices, the center's pulsedhighmagnetic field facility is at the leading level. Here came a large number of original achievements, including new quantum oscillations for discovering the third law, which is also evaluated as one of the most important discoveries in the field of quantum oscillations in the past 90 years.
Keep challenging the limits from scratch
Pan Yuan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the initiator of WHMFC, said that in the 1980s, developed countries in Europe and the United States built higher pulsed magnetic fields, but China is basically blank in this regard. Building a national science project aims to gather strength, make major breakthroughs in the frontiers of science and technology, and solve strategic, fundamental and forward-looking scientific and technological problems in economic and social development and national security.
There is no model for scientific projects of universities. With limited research funds and backward conductor materials, everything is difficult. Core materials and components can't be bought or borrowed. Over a long period of time, Professor Li Liang, who was invited to Wuhan by Li Peigen, the former president of HUST, endured boredom and loneliness with his colleagues and worked hard at solving difficult problems day and night in the laboratory. The scientists participating in the construction of WHMFC gave up the opportunity to make their own research achievements and focused on the construction of high magnetic field facility. Relying on the team spirit of self-reliance and hard work, they explored the innovative mode of university construction and operation of large-scale scientific projects in universities and created a national precedent. What they are most proud of is that key core materials and components of WHMFC have all been localized through independent research and development. In 2019, the first group of "crab eaters" won the first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.
Optimize and upgrade to a higher level
As of great importanceinmultidisciplinary research, WHMFC has bravely assumed the responsibility to enhance the original innovation ability of our province and the whole country, achieve the leap of key areas, ensure the long-term development of science and technology, build an innovative province.
"Next, WHMFC will deepen and play a further role in industry applications such as 'electromagnetic manufacturing'." Li Liang said, the application of pulsed high magnetic field technology to the field of material forming processing, can be directly formed in milliseconds of plate pipe parts, with the characteristics of high speed, non-contact, flexible environmental protection, bringing disruptive changes to the technical fields such as the welding of different materials of metal at room temperature and the integral forming of large lightweight alloy plates, thereby realizing high-end manufacturing. In addition, the pulsed high magnetic field technology also has unique advantages in new energy and biomedical industries such as wind power generation and magnetic resonance imaging, and its application prospects are prominent.
"Based on the national needs, to help the industry development, to meet the needs of users, the facility is being optimized and upgraded." Li Liang introduced that the center took ten years to complete the project of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and it is urgent to apply relevant research achievements to achieve a breakthrough.
