COSAM OPENS UNIQUE,
WORLD-CLASS
PLASMA PHYSICS
During the past five years, Edward Thomas, the
Lawrence C. Wit Professor of Physics, said he
developed a new mantra, “No stress, no stress,
no stress.” By repeating the phrase over and over,
he had hoped to stave off any ill effects that
might result from overseeing the creation of the
new Magnet Laboratory at Auburn University,
which included the development and delivery of
a 6,000-pound superconducting magnet, the only
one of its kind in the world.
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Journey/2014
device as the first, second-generation device, where
we have taken a lot of the lessons we have learned
on earlier devices and incorporated them into the
design of this facility and tried to put together
something that is pretty unique. The uniqueness
stems from the fact that we can do something that
no other device can do, which is shape the structure
of the magnetic field.”
“The superconducting magnet in the laboratory is
a one-of-a-kind device,” said Thomas. “There have
been a half-a-dozen or so experiments around
the world that have tried to explore the physics
of magnetized dusty plasmas. We think of our
RESEARCH LABORATORY
The new lab houses the Magnetized Dusty
Plasma Experiment, a one-of-a-kind facility that
will support plasma physics research for Auburn
University students and researchers, as well as
for a diverse team of national and international
researchers who will come to Auburn to perform
experimental and theoretical studies. More than a
dozen Auburn students, including undergraduates,
graduates, and postdoctoral-researchers, were
involved in the design and implementation of
the new laboratory, and as the research evolves
over the next several years, Thomas envisions
opportunities for a long-line of undergraduate and
graduate student researchers.
The magnet arrived in late February, and the
excitement felt by Thomas and his fellow
researchers was palatable as they stood on a loading
dock, watching the back of a delivery truck and
anxiously waiting for the first glimpses of the
three-ton superconducting monster. The installation
process was painstakingly tedious as the team
worked to ensure not a scratch would harm the
magnet even as a small crane lowered the beast into
a pre-constructed platform in the lab.
Once installed, the magnet was connected to a
series of pumps and tubes that carry compressed,
gaseous helium to the coils inside the magnet. The
compressed helium serves to cool the magnetic
coils to extremely low temperatures.
“We had to get the coils cold before using the
magnet. They went from room temperature to
College of Sciences and Mathematics
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