HTS Magnet Coil for Ultra-High Field NMR Spectroscopy

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is an extremely powerful analytical technique used routinely in biology, chemistry, medicine, physics, and materials science. Sensitivity and spectral resolution increase with increasing strength of the spectrometer's magnetic field, thereby, enabling the study of ever decreasing sample volumes or concentrations and providing increased resolution for the study of increasingly complex systems. "Low-temperature" superconducting windings used in current NMR spectrometer magnets have critical fields which limit field strengths to <20 Tesla. Newer "high-temperature" superconductors (HTS have higher critical fields (up to 200) and, thus, potentially can be used to generate magnetic field strengths heretofore unattainable.In this program, a set of HTS "double pancake" coils will be fabricated and tested by Intermagnetics General Corporation, in collaboration with the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, to provide the foundation for Phase II development of an HTS magnet coil. This Phase II coil will authenticate the conductor and coil technology required to fabricate a coil insert system which will boost the field of a future 20 Tesla spectrometer by up to 5 Tesla. The resulting 25 Tesla magnetic field (corresponding to a proton resonance frequency of 1.06 GHz) is beyond that achievable using low temperature superconductors.