At the High Magnetic Field Science Center of the Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the water-cooled magnet independently developed by the mainland scientific research team generated a steady-state magnetic field of 420,200 gauss, that is, 42.02 Tesla. Courtesy of the High Magnetic Field Science Center of the Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Recently, at the High Magnetic Field Science Center of the Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the water-cooled magnet independently developed by the mainland scientific research team generated a steady-state magnetic field of 420,200 gauss (i.e., 42.02 Tesla), setting a new world record for water-cooled magnets. The steady-state strong magnetic field is an extreme condition required to carry out cutting-edge research in physical science, and it is also a powerful tool to promote major scientific discoveries. The successful development of this magnet provides better experimental conditions for scientists to explore new phenomena and reveal new laws, and also lays a key technical foundation for the construction of steady-state magnets with higher field strength in the mainland.
The major technological breakthrough of the continental steady-state strong magnetic field experimental device is an important embodiment of scientific research "moving towards extreme conditions". In recent years, with the continuous progress of theoretical models and experimental techniques, scientists have pushed the experimental conditions to an unprecedented limit state, and a large number of scientific phenomena and laws have been revealed under extreme conditions such as ultra-high temperature, ultra-low temperature, ultra-high pressure, and ultra-strong magnetic field, which has greatly expanded the cognitive boundaries of mankind and promoted the development of economy and society.
Under extreme conditions, it can reveal the basic laws of nature, the new state of matter, and the extreme adaptability of life
What are Extreme Conditions? What extreme conditions can scientists create? What are the effects of these extreme conditions?
Extreme conditions refer to individual or comprehensive physical conditions that are artificially created in the laboratory and reach or approach the limits of current technology, and their effects are different and interrelated. Scientific research is moving towards extreme conditions, which can carry out in-depth exploration of the natural world in extreme conditions. Under extreme conditions, scientists can reveal the basic laws of nature, the new state of matter, and the extreme adaptability of life, thereby advancing the development of physics, chemistry, materials science, biology and other disciplines, and helping to achieve technological breakthroughs.
"In the field of material science, we can understand the state of matter as a 'function' of basic physical parameters such as temperature, magnetic field, pressure, etc., for example, water will become gaseous or solid with the change of temperature, graphite will become diamond under high temperature and high pressure, and many minerals are also formed in the environment of high temperature and high pressure in the earth's interior." Cheng Jinguang, deputy director of the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced.
"Under some extreme conditions, many substances will appear in states that are difficult to appear in a conventional environment." Cheng Jinguang said, "When we expand these extreme conditions, we will observe many new states of matter and new physical phenomena. Through the regulation of physical conditions under extreme conditions, the boundaries of human cognition have been greatly expanded. ”
As early as more than 100 years ago, Netherlands scientists found that its resistance suddenly disappeared, that is, the superconducting state, by liquefiing helium and cooling mercury to minus 268.98 degrees Celsius. The discovery of superconducting states has changed mankind's perception of the material world and promoted the development of technologies in the fields of energy, transportation, information, and medical care.
In recent years, scientific research under extreme conditions has yielded fruitful results. For example, under high temperature and high pressure conditions, scientists have successfully synthesized new superconducting materials, which provides new possibilities for power transmission and electronic equipment development. Under ultra-low temperature conditions, strange phenomena such as quantum entanglement have been observed, laying the foundation for the development of cutting-edge technologies such as quantum computing and quantum secure communication. Scientists around the world have made many significant achievements in scientific research under the condition of steady-state strong magnetic field, and these achievements have been comprehensively applied in physics, chemistry, materials, life and health, and engineering technology......
In the field of materials science, Cheng Jinguang is engaged in exploring new material systems with exotic physical properties is a powerful driving force for the development of condensed matter physics.
"High-pressure technology is playing an increasingly important role in the study of modern condensed matter physics." Cheng Jinguang introduced that as a thermodynamic parameter as important as temperature, high pressure can largely determine the direction and rate of many solid-state reactions. Under high temperature and high pressure conditions, many new materials that do not exist under normal pressure conditions can be synthesized. By applying high pressure, it is also possible to change the distance between atoms, which is a key parameter that determines the physical properties of materials, so that the physical properties can be precisely regulated. Combining ultra-high hydrostatic pressure with extreme conditions such as extremely low temperatures and strong magnetic fields, it is possible to explore the response of materials under these extreme conditions, revealing many strange physical phenomena with potential applications.
The realization of extreme conditions often requires complex experimental equipment and exquisite experimental technology
Not long ago, the comprehensive extreme conditions experimental device in Beijing Huairou Science City opened the second round of general project collection this year.
The comprehensive extreme conditions experimental device is the first national major scientific and technological infrastructure to start construction in Beijing Huairou Science City, and it is also the world's leading experimental device integrating a variety of extreme conditions. It was built by the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and jointly built by Jilin University, and officially started construction in September 2017. There is a strong magnetic field that is 600,000 times higher than the Earth's magnetic field, ultra-high pressure that is close to the pressure of the Earth's core, an extremely low temperature that is close to absolute zero (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius), and an ultrafast light field that "cuts" time to only 1 billionth of a second......
In recent years, innovative breakthroughs under extreme conditions have become an important paradigm in scientific research. Cheng Jinguang said: "With the development of science, the means of state control have become more sophisticated and complex, and many important scientific discoveries depend on breakthroughs in extreme conditions. ”
"In the era of big science, through the construction of advanced experimental facilities for extreme conditions, the creation of extreme temperatures, extreme pressures, super magnetic fields and other extreme states will help to discover new substances, reveal new laws, and open up new applications." Chen Zhi, director of the Institute of Science, Technology and Economic and Social Development of the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology Development Strategy, believes.
In recent years, the construction of major scientific and technological infrastructure on the mainland has been accelerated, and large-scale scientific facilities have become more and more complete, providing a strong guarantee for scientific research under extreme conditions. In the view of Yin Panchao, a professor at South China University of Technology, the establishment and development of experimental devices integrating a variety of extreme conditions will provide an important support platform for improving the level of scientific research in mainland China and achieving major original breakthroughs.
Scientific research under extreme conditions often involves multidisciplinary research and requires close cooperation between scientists from different fields. Ma Yugang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and vice president of Fudan University, believes that to carry out scientific research under extreme conditions, it is necessary to attach importance to cooperation, and actively promote interdisciplinary integration through the establishment of some multidisciplinary laboratories and research teams.
"It is not only necessary to achieve the extreme conditions of a single item, but also to integrate the different extreme conditions." Cheng Jinguang gave an example that there are as many as 20 experimental stations in the comprehensive extreme conditions experimental setup, and most of them combine two to three extreme conditions. Using these comprehensive extreme conditions, cutting-edge research in the fields of material synthesis, physical property characterization, quantum manipulation, and ultrafast processes can be carried out.
The realization of extreme conditions often requires complex experimental equipment and exquisite experimental technology. Ma Yugang said that physics is an experimental science, and many of the instruments and devices involved in extreme conditions are precision instruments and high-precision special equipment. Therefore, it is necessary to attach great importance to independent innovation in scientific research instruments and equipment.
In addition, scientific research under extreme conditions requires interdisciplinary talents who understand both experiments and theories, and full attention should be paid to talent training. While establishing and developing experimental devices that integrate a variety of extreme conditions, it is also necessary to actively cultivate talents based on these scientific research platforms. Ma Yugang said.
In recent years, the paradigm of scientific research has undergone profound changes. In Ma Yugang's view, new research methods and research methods such as large-scale computing power and machine learning have had an important impact on scientific research under extreme conditions. "Through artificial intelligence-assisted computing and other means, some extreme conditions can be well simulated, and we must continue to deepen scientific research under extreme conditions through these new paradigms of scientific research."
Extreme conditions provide support for technological innovation and serve high-quality economic and social development
Extreme conditions not only play a huge role in scientific research, but also provide support for technological innovation. "In recent years, many breakthroughs in the field of energy and materials have been made with the expansion of extreme conditions. In addition, strategic high-tech fields such as deep space, deep sea, and deep earth are also fields where extreme conditions occur more often and are widely used. "For example, neutrino research can also be done in deep-sea environments, and life science exploration can be carried out under deep-earth conditions." In short, extreme conditions have opened up new horizons in many areas. ”
Scientific research under extreme conditions also actively serves the high-quality development of the economy and society. For example, nuclear magnetic resonance technology, which is widely used in the medical field for structural analysis and non-invasive imaging, is an application technology that is spawned by strong magnetic field conditions. For another example, after the continental steady-state strong magnetic field experimental device was put into full operation, the results derived from the R&D device and a number of achievements based on the research of the device, such as combined scanning probe microscopy technology, national class I anti-cancer innovative targeted drugs, etc., have been successfully transformed and applied.
In Hangzhou, Zhejiang, relying on the very weak magnetic large scientific device that is about to start construction, Fang Jiancheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, led the team to build a zero-magnetic space scaled prototype, focusing on key technologies such as magnetic shielding, and promoting the transformation of relevant achievements.
According to Fang Jiancheng, compared with the achievements of strong magnetic fields, the scientific community still knows little about the conditions of weak magnetic fields. In recent years, he and his team have carried out basic research in zero-magnetic medicine, biology, chemistry, basic physics and materials science under the extreme conditions of zero and near-zero magnetism, and have produced a number of original achievements and realized the transformation of technologies.
Experts say that the prospects for scientific research on extreme conditions are incomparably broad. Looking to the future, the move towards extreme conditions in scientific research will continue to drive the development of multiple disciplines, and scientists will be able to explore more deeply scientific questions such as the state of matter, the behavior of life, and the evolution of the universe under extreme conditions. At the same time, scientific research under extreme conditions will also provide important support for innovation in new materials, new energy and other fields.
People's Daily (October 14, 2024, Edition 19)
Source: People's Daily Online-People's Daily
Reporter: Gu Yekai