Superconducting magnets and their applications

Since the discovery of superconductivity almost a century ago, there has been a steady increase in the variety of superconducting magnet applications. Progress in superconducting magnet technology has resulted in applications in areas of basic science, medicine, separation, and levitation. Performance improvements in a variety of materials, from low-temperature to high-temperature superconductors, are the foundation of recent rapid development. In addition, large increases in affordable computing power along with steady refinement of three-dimensional analytical tools and improved materials characterization, have allowed many more advanced magnet concepts to be realized directly in hardware without scale prototype testing than was previously possible. This in turn has broadened opportunities for new science and technology results in many fields including the basic sciences, medical imaging, fusion, environmental remediation, and transportation. In this paper a few examples of these applications will be discussed, representing a range in magnetic field, current density, and overall size, from the practical to the developmental.