Research at the new Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory

High magnetic fields are one of the most powerful tools available to scientists for the study, modification, and control of the state of matter. The application of magnetic fields, therefore, has become a commonly used instrument for condensed-matter physics. For the observation of many phenomena very high magnetic fields are essential. Consequently, the demand for the highest possible magnetic-field strengths is increasing. At the Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory (Hochfeld-Magnetlabor Dresden, HLD), that in 2007 has opened its doors for external users, pulsed magnetic fields up to 70 T are available and a European record field of 87.2 T have been reached. The laboratory has set the ambitious goal of reaching 100 T on a 10 ms timescale. As a unique feature, a free-electron-laser facility next door allows high-brilliance radiation to be fed into the pulsed field cells of the HLD, thus making possible high-field magneto-optical experiments in the range 3-250 µm. Cryotechniques and different sample probes for a broad range of experimental techniques custom designed for the pulsed magnets are readily available for users. In-house research of the HLD focuses on electronic properties of strongly correlated materials at high magnetic fields. Besides introducing some highlights of the HLD experimental infrastructure, some recent scientific research results will be presented. This includes e.g. the detection of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in electron-doped high-temperature superconductors that allowed to unravel a drastic change of the Fermi-surface topology upon doping [1]. Furthermore, pulsed-field experiments at the HLD allowed to observe the field-induced conductance switching in single-walled carbon nanotubes