One important application of superconducting electromagnets is within an area of fundamental physics research-the study of the elementary particles. In collider-style particle accelerators, magnets steer charged particles along counter-circulating paths so the particles can smash into each other at high energy. Modern colliding accelerators are now built using superconducting magnets because the high energies needed by researchers are not attainable without the high magnetic fields created by these magnets. Because superconductors do not have electrical resistance, accelerators built with superconducting magnets are also much less costly to operate. In fact, modern colliders could not be built or operated using conventional (non-superconducting) magnets. Now under construction, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland has a circumference of 27 km (about 16 miles) and requires 8,000 superconducting magnets and 700,000 liters of liquid helium.

Model of a superconducting magnet for the particle accelerator now under construction at CERN. (photo courtesy of CERN)