The use of high magnetic fields for the study of magnetism and superconductivity in intermetallic compounds

Magnetic fields have a large impact on the magnetic and superconducting properties of solids. High magnetic fields are required to reach magnetic saturation along a hard magnetic direction in a variety of rare-earth intermetallics, to break the ferrimagnetic moment configuration in specific 3d-4f intermetallics, to quench the strongly correlated electron states in heavy-fermion compounds, to reach the upper critical fields in several classes of superconductors, to study flux-pinning phenomena in the high-T/sub c/ superconductors, etc. In the present review, the attention is focused on the field interval 20-50 tesla. Experiments in this field range are the privilege of specialized high magnetic field laboratories. There is a lively activity in this area of research with the number of participating institutes continuously growing.<
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