Under the right conditions, superconducting magnets allow electricity to flow essentially undisturbed, producing intense magnetic fields for a variety of uses, including nuclear fusion experiments. Naturally, a larger magnetic field gives scientists more room to explore\u2014something that may soon be available to physicists in China, thanks to the creation of a record-setting superconducting magnet.<\/p>\n
In a September 28 statement<\/a>, the Institute of Plasma Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced that it had developed an all-superconducting magnet. This magnet successfully generated a record-breaking magnetic field with a strength of 35.1 tesla, which is 700,000 times stronger than the Earth\u2019s natural magnetic field. The field held for about 30 minutes, the statement said.<\/p>\n The previous record, which achieved 32.35 tesla, was also set by the CAS, but by a different division, the Institute of Electrical Engineering.<\/p>\n Chinese scientists announced on Sunday that they have successfully generated a steady magnetic field of 351,000 gauss\u2014over 700,000 times stronger than Earth\u2019s geomagnetic field\u2014with a fully superconducting magnet, setting a new world record and significantly advancing the\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/gFR1WQRWIH<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 People’s Daily, China (@PDChina) September 29, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cThis validated the reliability of the technical solution and provided an important platform for conducting various sample experiments under 35.1 tesla conditions in a fully superconducting magnet,\u201d said the CAS.<\/p>\n Hot and cold <\/p>\n Achieving superconducting conditions often requires extremely low temperatures. To be clear, superconducting magnets are already being used for a variety of applications, such as in MRI scanners or particle accelerators. These uses have their own fabrication complications to deal with, but for fusion applications, the low-temperature requirement makes things even trickier.<\/p>\n Nuclear fusion\u2014colliding two light atoms to generate massive amounts of energy\u2014naturally produces a lot of heat. That heat also transfers to the superconducting magnets, which are designed<\/a> to safely confine the fusion reaction.<\/p>\n A magnet sandwich <\/p>\n And so, in designing these parts, engineers need to be aware of the environmental conditions the magnet will face. The new magnet is still far from being inserted into a fusion reactor, but the researchers are aware of the challenges this could pose when trying to ramp up the magnetic field\u2019s strength, as they noted in an interview with CGTN<\/a>.<\/p>\n The magnet\u2019s design hints at a nice balance. It \u201cadopts high-temperature superconducting insert-coil technology, coaxially nested with low-temperature superconducting magnets,\u201d Liu Fang, a researcher at CAS, told CGTN.<\/p>\n The CAS Institute of Plasma Physics spearheads the country\u2019s participation in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor<\/a> (ITER), a global collaboration set to build the world\u2019s largest fusion reactor<\/a>. The CAS has not specified whether the new magnet will directly go to ITER, although it noted that it had been tasked with providing many parts of the reactor, including superconducting technology.<\/p>\n \n