New Facilities

Applied Superconductivity Center

More than $4 million has been committed for substantial renovations to the Frank Shaw Building as part of a package that attracted the world leading Applied Superconductivity Center to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and FSU. Included in this are significant mechanical and electrical upgrades, a new interior, and enhancements to the security system, telecommunications network, sprinkler system and fire alarm. In addition, a dedicated suite of electron microscope rooms—on an isolated slab and with a special ventilation system designed to reduce vibration and allow high resolution imaging—is being added. In all, more than 80 percent of the Shaw Building's square footage is being renovated.

The center's new $1.2 million Zeiss scanning electron/ion microscope—one of two now installed—is used to develop materials that can be fashioned into the most efficient superconducting wires ever made, which have enormous potential for revolutionizing an array of technologies. These microscopes are able to achieve the highest-resolution images in a scanning electron microscope—down to one nanometer, or one-billionth of a meter.