Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Pulsés CNRS – INSA

General overview of the LCMI 2005-2009
Short history
The Laboratoire des Champs Magnétiques Intenses (LCMI), was a "Unité Propre du CNRS, UPR 5021"
associated with the University Joseph Fourier, UJF, and the Institut National Polytechnique, INP Grenoble. It
belongs to the "Très Grands Equipements" of the CNRS since 2005 and depends primarily on the MPPU
department of the CNRS, with a secondary attachment to the CNRS Chemistry department.
At its creation in 1972, the laboratory was operating as a "service". It was named "Service National des
Champs Intenses" (SNCI) and a collaboration started with the Max-Plank-Institut für Festkörperforschung
(MPI-FKF) in Stuttgart for both research and magnet development. In 1990/91, most of the technical
installations were renewed, and the dc electric power and cooling capacity were increased from 10 to 24
MW. From 1992 a common laboratory, the LCMI, or Grenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory (GHMFL),
has been operated by the CNRS and the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft through the MPI-FKF in Stuttgart. This
partnership extended to the end of 2004. From 2002 to the end of 2005 Gérard Martinez was director and he
insured the transition to the new state of the laboratory in 2005. His successor was Jean-Louis Tholence, who
directed the laboratory until end 2008. On 1/1/2009, the LCMI was merged with the Laboratoire National
des Champs Magnétiques Pulsés in Toulouse (LNCMP), under the directorship of Geert Rikken.
This report starts in 2005, when the status of "Très Grand Equipement" (TGE) was given to the laboratory by
the CNRS. As a consequence, the LCMI is since then supervised by a "Comité de Direction" replacing the
previous "Comité Commun". This "Comité de Direction" meets once a year to evaluate the scientific
activities of the laboratory, summarized in a annual report, and its technical and scientific projects. The
CNRS has made a large effort to contribute to the budget of the laboratory and insured a reduced but
reasonable access time to the magnets (3500 instead of 5000 magnet hours). Today 85% of the budget is
coming from the CNRS and 15% from the European community in the framework of the "Large Scale
Facilities".
Moreover some of the MPI technical employees have been admitted on technical positions opened by the
CNRS, and the laboratory is now operating with 38 ITA (instead of 50 tens years ago). The number of
scientists supported by the MPI used to be up to 25, but the LCMI was operating in 2008 with only 10
permanent scientists (CNRS, UJF and INSA Toulouse).
Missions
The LCMI has three major missions;
1) High quality research using high magnetic fields:
The scientists of the laboratory develop their own research in the main domains of solid state physics:
semiconductors, metals and superconductors or magnetism where the quantum effects are studied. Some
techniques like the high frequency and high field EPR and the high resolution NMR are of great interest for
solid state chemistry and have been the objects of large efforts of the laboratory. This 2005-2009 report
presents the main developments of this research and of the technical improvements underpinning them.
Since the LCMI scientists also work as local contacts for visiting scientists, the number of topics studied at
the LCMI is necessarily large compared to the number of scientists, which is a necessary condition for the
operation of any large facility.
2) Providing access to external users:
The laboratory is open to the international scientific community. Any scientist wanting to use large magnetic
fields can submit a project to use the relevant infrastructure of the laboratory with the help of the
"instrumentation service" of the laboratory and of a local contact.
All projects, including the internal ones, to be realized in high magnetic fields are evaluated by an
international committee twice a year (June and December). Among around 150 projects submitted per year,
the rejection or reduction of demanded time is around 15%. The fraction of internal projects has dropped
with the departure of MPI scientists, the total number of submitted French projects being around 50 (33%).
1