International partners launch European Magnetic Field Laboratory
The European Magnetic Field Laboratory (EMFL) was formally founded in Brussels on 27 January 2015, as the founding organisations signed the deed to create the legal entity EMFL in the presence of a notary. The French CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), the German research center HZDR (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf) and the Dutch RU/FOM (Radboud University and Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter) thereby created a joint laboratory.
Jan Kees Maan (executive manager): "We have created an organization with a large potential, that can satisfy the needs of the scientific community and which is big enough to face the global competition. From now on the EMFL facilities can act together and represent and serve the high field community in Europe as a single entity." The statutes which were agreed upon, combined with a more extensive memorandum of understanding which was signed on 27 November 2014, form a solid basis upon which the success of the newly created EMFL can be built.
Joint forces
The EMFL mission is to develop and operate world class high magnetic field facilities, to use them for excellent research by both in-house and external users. To this end, the four high field facilities in Europe join forces, with their new headquarter in Brussels. High magnetic fields are one of the most powerful tools available to scientists for the study, the modification and the control of the state of matter. EMFL provides the highest possible fields (both continuous and pulsed) for its researchers.
The Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses (LNCMI) in Toulouse specialise in pulsed magnetic fields close to 100 Tesla. For the highest static fields, researchers can use the major infrastructures at the LNCMI Grenoble and the High Field Magnet Laboratory in Nijmegen. The facilities also provide a very sophisticated supporting infrastructure for imaging, spectroscopy and a wide range of physical property measurements.
Partners
The EMFL legal structure (an international non-profit organisation under Belgian law) allows the inclusion of new European partners, so that members striving for research opportunities at the highest possible magnetic fields can be included. Negotiations with interested parties are already under way.