Generally speaking, we need a strong magnet to generate high magnetic fields: the magnet should endure the large electro-magnetic force and the Joule heating should be suppressed appropriately. Also, the design of the power supply is important. Making the duration time of the magnetic field short helps to reduce the Joule heating. However, the electromagnetic force is inevitable, and the mechanical strength of the material that we use for making the magnet determines the highest magnetic field of the magnet. The world highest magnetic field is close to but lower than 100 Tesla if we use a non-destructive magnet. Many researchers and technicians are aiming to generate higher fields than 100 Tesla without a destruction of magnets. However, it has never been succeeded yet. Magnetic fields exceeding 100 Tesla (megagauss fields) can only be obtained by means of a destructive magnet.
In our institute, The Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo, one can generate ultra-high magnetic fields in the range of 100 to 700 Tesla by the single-turn coil method and the electromagnetic flux compression method. Since the duration time of the field is as short as microseconds, advanced measurement techniques and skillful researcher are required for the experiments. Although it is not necessarily always possible to conduct a very precise measurement in the destructive measurement, doing experiments under such a ultra-high magnetic fields is very exciting you may also feel romanticism. We envision discovering new and important phenomena in the matter under the megagauss fields.
Quantum beams such as a synchrotron x-ray, free electron laser, strong neutron source, are very useful and powerful microscopic probes to study the electronic state of the matter. Drastic progress of the measurement techniques have been achieved due to the strong intensity of the beam, e.g., ultra-high speed measurements have been realized.
The quantum beam is one of the best probes to reveal the electronic states of the matter in a very high magnetic field. We have been developing the techniques to combine the synchrotron x-rays and a pulsed magnet and realize the synchrotron x-ray experiments in fields of up to 50 T. We aim to proceed with the research of strongly correlated materials in high magnetic fields using the synchrotron x-ray magneto-spectroscopy.