Only four summers ago, the world's scientific community got the sobering news that the federal government had decided to put the seat of its newest national laboratory--a multimillion-dollar research enterprise based on super-strength magnets not yet built--in, of all places, Tallahassee, Florida. It was to be a start-up project of the first order, built literally from scratch, founded on little else than the government's faith in what the people in Tallahassee said they'd do if given the chance.

On June 22 of this year, an anxious crew of scientists and engineers at FSU's Innovation Park threw a switch that dumped enough power to light up 750 houses onto a made-in- Tallahassee magnet--and held their breath. Within minutes, the device did what it was designed to do--develop the greatest field-strength of its class ever recorded.

From start-up to a world record in just under 48 months. A not- insignificant segment of the world's science community found itself surprised once again.

"I think the whole world felt like we wouldn't be able to do this in 10 years," lab director Dr. Jack Crow opined. "But here, in just the beginning of our fifth year, we will have leapfrogged every magnet lab in the world."

The spectacularly successful testing of its first home-designed- and-built magnet in June --coming as it did right on schedule--stands as immutable proof that America's National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) has arrived.

The event marked the scientific and technological apex of what has been an unrelieved storm of physical and intellectual activity at the lab's Innovation Park address since the fall of 1990.

The Shingle's Out

With Vice President Al Gore putting a proper imprimatur on things at the lab's long-awaited dedication ceremony in October, the operative phrase heard around Crow's office nowadays is "tell 'em what we've got." Now that the construction period has largely given way to the lab's all- important research phase, Crow has swung the lab's doors wide to scientists the world over. A key purpose of any national lab is to put rare scientific instruments into the most capable hands out there, and Crow is now obliged to jump from being a construction foreman to a salesman.

"Now we've got a product, and it's our job to sell it," he told Research in Review in August. "Everybody who's been here is very impressed by what they see. But getting them here for the first time is the challenge. Once they're here and see these facilities, they usually walk away with their mouths open."

Even to the scientifically disinclined, the lab presents an imposing sight. Now with an in-house work force approaching 250, there's sufficient activity in most corners of the 287,000-sq.-ft complex to create the aura of big-time research, which in this case isn't pushing things to say big-time adventure. Scientists--largely physicists, chemists and mathematicians--mingle with engineers and technicians in impromptu huddles called amid a chorus of whining machines in the lab's cavernous central workshop. Inner works of power distribution, cabling and mammoth-sized plumbing offer a visual symphony of stainless steel, copper and special alloys. Labs within labs brim with exquisite species of electronic and mechanical gadgetry--most of it spanking new. It may be the newness of everything, in fact, that helps prompt the jaw-dropping reaction Crow speaks of.

Barring the foundation, the outer walls and the roof, the building housing the lab's operational core bears little resemblance to the one put up in 1989 by Innovation Park's central authority as a home for a state testing facility. The building, which was never occupied, was given a floor-to-ceiling overhaul to accommodate its profoundly revised mission. Then on the southwest side, a 27,000-sq.-ft. addition was crafted to house a very special lab enterprise, the world's largest center for investigating magnetic resonance (MR), the phenomenon that has given rise to one of medicine's most powerful diagnostic tools--MRI (for magnetic resonance imaging).

Near the business end of the complex, where most of the lab's biggest magnets already are, or will be, aligned in concrete bays, a chiller plant throbs constantly, pulling down the temperature of a recirculating, deionized water supply to a steady 46°F. Thirty-six-inch mains carry the water to and from a million-gallon cooling tower outside.

Cold water--lots of it--is the key to much of what goes on at the lab. To build magnets hundreds of thousands of times stronger that the earth's own magnetic field, huge amounts of electricity must be applied in a relatively small space--none of the magnets now on line at the lab is bigger than a car engine. Such massive power coursing through stacked copper plates--the magnets' "coils"--causes a fierce amount of resistance expressed as heat. In the June experiment, a magnetic field 600,000 times greater than Earth's was created on the strength of 13.5 megawatts of power poured into the lab's first resistive (heat-inducing) magnet. Nearly 2,000 gallons per minute of chilled water, under 300 pounds of pressure, surged through the device and literally kept it from melting.

Director Crow said that the June triumph has helped quiet much of the criticism that arose in 1990 when the National Science Foundation decided to shift the bulk of funding for its high-field magnet development program from its traditional home at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to Florida State. Fears that the move would doom MIT's 35-year-old Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory have abated somewhat since then--Bitter is in line for continued NSF funding through 1995, with the likelihood of renewed contracts after that. Part of the reason is that the MIT group is now heavily involved in collaborative projects with the NHMFL team at FSU.

For starters, since MIT is a world leader in the design of so-called "hybrid" magnets--giant-sized marriages of resistive and superconducting magnet technologies, the Boston group is helping build a super-hybrid model that is scheduled to be installed at FSU next year and running by September. This 14-ton, 21-foot-tall Goliath is being designed to develop a magnetic field rated at 45-Tesla, a measurement indicating strength. (By contrast, the world record set by the FSU team in June with a conventional resistive magnet was 27- T, snapping a 25-T mark held by the Max Planck Institute in Grenoble, France. Outside of highly controlled experiments in which colossal Tesla numbers are reached with the aid of high explosives (work exclusively conducted by NHMFL's western partner, Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico) a strength of 45-T, when achieved, will set the world record for stand-alone magnets of any kind, says Crow.

"Right now, Grenoble is just starting to design their 43-T and Japan, the next leading competitor, is starting a 40-T," said Crow. "So with our 45-T on line next September, we will be in a position to go well beyond everybody else in the world (in terms of raw power) and therefore the science coming out of here should be well beyond everybody else, too."

Science is Job One

Lab scientists didn't waste much time celebrating the fact that their new 27-T magnet actually worked just as its designers said it would. Within hours of start-up, a group of physicists led by Dr. William Moulton of FSU used the device for an experiment in nuclear (there are several types) MR--the first such investigation ever attempted at such a high field level.

Since June, the lab has designed, built, installed and tested two other large resistive magnets--another 27-T along with a 20-T--and a 30-T is scheduled to be on line by the end of this year. Also by January, installation of the lab's first large-scale, superconducting magnet--a 20-T machine built on contract with an English magnet design company--is expected to finally usher in the science phase of the lab's NMR program, delayed somewhat because of difficulty in obtaining high-end equipment and in signing a bona fide, world- renowned expert to run it. This summer, Dr. Geoffrey Bodenhausen, director of the NMR program at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), assumed the reins of the young program, joining a stellar line-up of talent drawn to the lab in recent months.

The frenzy to acquire machines and personnel, of course, signals a resolve to stop talking about science and start doing it--a matter much on the mind of director Crow, obviously. He's been encouraged by the interest shown by a number of university groups--Louisiana State, UCLA, Boston, SUNY-Buffalo and several German institutes--who've already shown up for preliminary work in such areas as high- temperature superconductivity and other aspects of materials science. As word gets out about what the lab has to offer, Crow expects an increase in the number of campus- based science groups applying for time on the facilities, which-- as is the rule at all national labs--is free to qualified, public users. Private companies, especially those involved in proprietary work, have to pay, said Crow, but he doesn't expect a great deal of interest from the private sector in the initial going.

"Our emphasis right now is on convincing university scientists that this facility will enhance their research. To justify long-term funding, we've got to develop a customer base out there that is writing to the NSF and saying 'for goodness sake, make sure this place is properly funded.' We've got to get them screaming if the product isn't available."

The "product" is soon to become appreciably better. In September, the NSF announced that the lab had won a $5 million competition to develop the world's largest center for research in the field of ion cyclotron mass spectrometry, a new, high-end offshoot of NMR research that poses revolutionary changes in fundamental studies of chemicals, biological tissue and manmade materials. Crow regards the news as the lab's "first big success story" in the pursuit of uses for high-field magnets in science and industry, the lab's fundamental reason for being.

The words come from the a final report of a panel of experts convened by the National Science Foundation in 1988. Panelists were charged with determining the intrinsic worth of research in super-high magnetic fields and how exactly U.S. work in the area stacked up against competition from Europe and Japan. The panelists obviously found things lacking in the American initiative and strongly recommended a stepped-up emphasis on what they concluded was an area of vital national interest.

Ergo, the NSF reexamined its funding priorities for high-field research and issued a national call for proposals basically aimed at building the world's preeminent center for magnet research in America. An unlikely bid by FSU-- backed up by a pledge of $60 million in state dollars over a five- year-period (matched by $60 million from the NSF)-- emerged as a strong contender right off the bat. The unusual proposal called for a partnership between Florida State, the University of Florida and New Mexico's Los Alamos National Laboratory, a plan designed to capitalize on strengths in materials science, cryogenics, biotechnology, both theoretical and experimental physics, and advanced computing already in place at these three sites.

Crow and his chief administrators keenly remember the wails of protest that erupted in 1990 over the NSF's subsequent decision to place its bet on the Florida plan. The implication--that serious research can be done only in the Northeast or on the Pacific coast--has most assuredly helped keep the Florida group focused and on task. Crow says the results are everywhere one cares to look.

"Not only are we on schedule with most of our (construction) commitments, but we're actually ahead in a few key areas," he said. "Our original schedule called for the installation of the 45-T (hybrid) in 1997. We're going to have it up and running in September of '95--two years early on that one." A shortened timetable for getting such super-magnets on line has been a consequence of an engineering tour de force that produced quality infrastructure unlike any he's seen, said Crow, who added that he's seen them all. Design and performance of the lab's massive, 40-megawatt power supply-- the largest ever hitched to a magnet lab in this or any other country--and the facility's elaborate, yet super-quiet cooling system exceeded all specifications, and in some cases by a factor of 10, he said.

The magnet that set the 27-T record in June not only hit its mark, but amazed its designers with its reliability. In September, the magnet was still running strong after more than 200 hours of operation. By contrast, lesser magnets at MIT's Bitter lab are routinely replaced after 150 hours, said one lab engineer.

The Force is With Us

Now that they're confident they've built the best facility for magnet research on the planet, Crow's team is anxious to see what it will do. Science at the lab's New Mexico affiliate, as is well known among magnet designers, has been under way for some time. That effort, directed by Dr. L.J. Campbell, is pursuing studies of ultra-high magnetic fields--far beyond anything within reach at Innovation Park.

These super-short-lived fields are generated by carefully designed devices which use high explosives to force the creation of fields in the 100-T to 200-T range. No practical uses for such self-destructive machines have yet been proposed, yet for scientists the research offers intriguing insights into magnet theory, the fuel that drives the whole endeavor in high- field science.

So far, magnet science at the University of Florida centers on applications of high fields in research involving superconductivity, the phenomenon--now restricted to super- cold environments--whereby electricity flows with no resistance. Superconductivity plays a key role in research at UF's MicroKelvin Laboratory, where investigations of the nature of exotic materials such as heavy fermion alloys are conducted at some of the lowest temperatures ever created.

Magnets immersed in hyper-cooled baths of liquid helium or nitrogen can run for years without consuming any power, a phenomenon that has led high-field magnetism out of the laboratory and into practical applications in science and industry, the best example being MRI technology. As an NHMFL affiliate, the University of Florida will soon be able to equip its new $58 million Brain Institute with what is expected to be the most powerful MRI system ever installed, according to Dr. Tim Cross, deputy director of lab's NMR program. The core of the system, which will be operational in 1997, will be two specially designed superconducting magnets, the first of which already is on the drawing board in Tallahassee. This 12-T unit will be capable of imaging whole, live animals the size of rabbits or small dogs and in unprecedented detail, Cross said. Dr. Tom Mareci, head of UF's Center for Structural Biology, said this machine, along with a 4-T instrument that will be capable of imaging whole human brains and spinal cords, will represent the most sophisticated MRI diagnostic lab in the world. Brain Institute researchers expect to be able to use the lab to develop a novel technique known as in vivo spectroscopy, which allows scientists to examine the chemistry of live bodily organs without harming or disturbing them in any way, Mareci said.

Once perfected, such a tool could be invaluable in the study of brain function and in treating brain and spinal cord injuries, he added.

But it's clearly at Innovation Park where most of the consortium's frontier science will be conducted. Much of what excites scientists familiar with high-field magnetics is the potential this largely unexplored phenomenon has for advancing fundamental knowledge of how molecules interact to form things. When any material--be it natural, manmade, organic or inorganic--is exposed to tremendous magnetic energy, the submicroscopic beehive of atomic activity within it begins to slow down. This brief hiatus in normally frenzied atomic behavior presents an opportunity for scientists to study such things as how atoms aggregate as molecules and how these, in turn, associate with other molecules to form a gas, liquids such as blood or crude oil, a piece of plastic or steel--in short, anything--and often in stunning detail. Boosting the power of magnets for such work is akin to cranking up the magnification power of a microscope or telescope--one's ability to see details (resolution) becomes increasingly more acute.

Such a powerful analytical tool poses all sorts of uses in science and technology, but none are now more obvious than in the global quest for high-temperature ("high-TC") superconductivity. The 1988 NSF panel, in fact, plainly suggested that the key to achieving high-TC superconductivity--making the phenomenon work at normal temperatures--lies within high-magnetic field research.

Recognized as one of the true holy grails of science, high-TC superconductivity is a supreme challenge relegated almost exclusively to the study of new materials. This is where the NHMFL headquarters is expected to shine. Crow & Co. have succeeded in recruiting some of the world's best minds in materials science and in particular, superconductivity.

The Nobel Prize that the lab's chief scientist, Dr. Robert L. Schrieffer, shared with two other physicists in 1972 honored his contributions to the fundamental theory underlying the phenomenon. Heading the lab's theory group is Russian-born Dr. Lev Gor'kov, whose pioneering work in superconductivity theory won him his native country's highest science honor--the Lenin Award in Physics--in 1966.

Of course, superconductivity won't just be studied at the lab--it will be put to increasing use in the magnets scientists will use there for years to come. The entire family of magnets slated for use by the lab's Institute for Advanced Studies of Magnetic Resonance are superconducting, many of them commercially available this year for the first time--a testimony to how fast the technology is growing. Such resources will be shared by the institute's three in-house programs: the NMR group headed by Bodenhausen; the ESR (for electron spin resonance) group headed by Dr. Louis- Claude Brunel, lured from Grenoble; and the ICR (ion cyclotron resonance) group headed by Dr. Alan Marshall.

Research here will be given over entirely to finding the limits to which these three related analytical techniques may be taken in determining the molecular and atomic structures of various materials, both natural and manmade.

Closing the Deal

With the stage now pretty much set, Crow is starting the show with a plan to make the lab an even bigger attraction for researchers. He's seeking private funding to build a 15-unit guest house on the lab's premises to accommodate visiting research groups. The idea is intended to complement a state-funded, $1.2 million annual visitor program that pays salaries to distinguished visiting scholars who want to spend extended periods--of up to a year--in Tallahassee.

Having on-site living quarters readily available to rank-and-file users, most of whom would not qualify for support through the state's visitor program, would help overcome one of the lab's admitted disadvantages--its distance from traditional research hubs in the Northeast and on the West Coast, says Crow.

"Research funding is tight everywhere, so for people coming from around the country, we can't have them spending a lot on housing and transportation. That's just another impediment for them to come here, see what we've got and use it."

An axiom of salesmanship, Crow is learning, is that one does whatever it takes to steer the customer to "yes."

National laboratories may represent some of the country's most prized assemblages of scientific hardware and personnel, but they fail utterly when they insulate themselves from the scientific community at large, Crow feels. To prevent that, he vows to make the nation's newest scientific gem as accessible as possible to students, scholars and to industry as well to keep ideas fresh--even to take risks, if that's what it takes.

"People are just beginning to hear about us, and there's a learning curve involved," he said. "But that's to be expected. The word is getting out about what we've got here, and we're confident that when people see it for the first time, we won't have to worry--this incredible place will sell itself."

--FRANK STEPHENSON