New Magnetic Field Shielding for Precision Experiments

An international team of physicists has developed a shielding that dampens low frequency magnetic fields more than a million-fold. Using this mechanism, they have created a space that boasts the weakest magnetic field of our solar system. The physicists now intend to carry out precision experiments there.

(Image Source: Astrid Eckert / TUM Usage Restrictions None)

Magnetic fields easily penetrate matter. Creating a space practically devoid of magnetic fields thus presents a great challenge. An international team of physicists has now developed a shielding that dampens low frequency magnetic fields more than a million-fold. Using this mechanism, they have created a space that boasts the weakest magnetic field of our solar system. The physicists now intend to carry out precision experiments there.

Magnetic fields exist everywhere in the universe. Here on the Earth, we are permanently exposed to both natural and artificial magnetic fields. In Central Europe the Earth's ever-present magnetic field measures 48 microtesla. On top of this come local magnetic fields generated by transformers, motors, cranes, metal doors and the like.

A group of physicists headed by Professor Peter Fierlinger, physicist at the Technische Universität München (TUM) and researcher of the Cluster of Excellence "Origin and Structure of the Universe" have now successfully created 4.1 cubic meter space at the Garching research campus in which permanent and temporally variable magnetic fields are reduced over a million-fold.

This is accomplished using a magnetic shielding comprising various layers of a highly magentizable alloy. The ensuing magnetic attenuation results in a residual magnetic field inside the shield that is even smaller than that in the depths of our solar system. The approach improves the attenuation of previous set-ups more than ten-fold.

Reducing electromagnetic noise is a key prerequisite for many high-precision experiments in physics - but also in biology and medicine. In fundamental physics, the highest degree of magnetic shielding is essential when making precision measurements of miniscule effects in phenomena that drove the early development of our universe.

More - Link >>> http://www.ecnmag.com/news/2015/05/weakest-magnetic-field-solar-system

Sources: Technische Universitaet Muenchen, ECN Magazine.

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