HELIOS Magnet moved from University of Nottingham to STFC Daresbury
Posted on 23 August 2012
A redundant 3-T MRI magnet has been moved from the University of Nottingham to STFC Daresbury. The move was coordinated by Dave Coulthard .
The magnet is intended to form the basis of a novel spectrometer for use in a nuclear physics experiment at CERN from the end of 2014. You can find some impressive photos of this 13-ton magnet swinging off a 70-ton crane at Nottingham (please ignore some of the slightly odd comments in the webpage about the LHC etc which are not correct!)
http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/pressoffice/2012/07/25/7781/
We have been approached by some scientists at Daresbury who want to put microwave cavities in it to carry out an axion search, and the magnet should be available next year for general use.
There is an 80 cm diameter spherical volume at the centre of the solenoid with a homogeneity better than 10^-3 (we are stripping out the shim coils) and maximum field of 3-T. This is quite a large volume for some kit to go into.
If you a potential idea for its use, please contact David Jenkins.