MGML Part of European Magnetic Laboratory Network
Large research infrastructure MGML (Materials Growth & Measurement Laboratory), which operates at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University and whose partner institution is Institute of Physics of Czech Academy of Science, has become part of the prestigious network of European laboratories focused on research of materials in magnetic fields, led by EMFL – European Magnetic Field Laboratory. EMFL consists of four existing European high magnetic field laboratories – the Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory (HLD, Germany), the Laboratoires National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses (LNCMI) in Grenoble and Toulouse (France), and the High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Nijmegen (HFML, The Netherlands). These laboratories are the only ones in Europe with equipment to achieve the highest possible fields (both continuous and pulsed) for its researchers.
High magnetic fields represent one of the important analytic tools for studies of advanced functional materials, which are needed in all fundamental technology fields as energetics, information technologies or medical industry. Applied magnetic fields can substantially influence the material properties, change their magnetic state and reveal the microscopic mechanisms.
However, the experimental equipment necessary for this kind of research is very expensive and is therefore concentrated in only a few laboratories in Europe. A significant amount of them, as well as several commercial subjects, have been brought together in the joint European scientific project ISABEL (EU Framework Programme Project ISABEL – Improving the sustainability of the European Magnetic Field Laboratory). The eighteen European institutions involved in ISABEL represent the significant centers of research in high magnetic fields. Within ISABEL, these institutions formed a European network of magnetic field facilities with primary focus on collaboration in research in magnetic fields, as well as easier access for users to their equipment. Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, and namely the MGML laboratories act as one of the regional partners in the project.
EMFL, which also plays a crucial role in the ISABEL project, recently introduced a new dual access mode procedure to its devices. The dual access aims to significantly expand users’ access as well as lower the barrier for access to EMFL’s facilities. It will allow users, especially at an early stage of their research projects, to carry out research in small and medium magnetic fields within a network of seven regional partners (see the orange marks on the map). In the first-step, users can access research equipment dedicated to small to medium magnetic fields (regional partners), in the next step, then access the highest possible magnetic fields at the EMFL installations in Grenoble, Nijmegen, Toulouse and Dresden. One of the regional partners is MGML under the heading of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics UK (on the map as UCHA).
