Generation of pulsed magnetic fields – stretching the limits—

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 in condensed-matter physics. Consequently, the demand for ever higher magnetic-field strengths is increasing. At the Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory (Hochfeld-Magnetlabor Dresden, HLD), pulsed magnetic fields up to about 90 T are readily available for users. For the generation of such high pulsed magnetic fields a specially designed world-unique capacitor bank has been installed. Operating at a maximum voltage of 24 kV, peak currents of up to 500 kA with a pulsed power of about 5 GW can be supplied. Besides this high-energy (50 MJ) capacitor bank, a number of smaller capacitive pulsed-power generators are designed at the HLD, some of which supply currents beyond 1.5 MA on a microsecond time scale.