We’re often asked about Halbach magnets because, well, they’re just plain neat. Halbach arrays are also a key component of the Inductrack maglev train system wherein the Halbach arrays repel loops of wire that form the track after the train has been accelerated to speed, lifting the train.īuild an example – straight Halbach array Klaus Halbach originally invented them to use as wiggler magnets used in particle accelerators and free electron lasers. Why would you want one? Where are they actually used?įrom Wikipedia: Although one-sided flux distributions may seem somewhat abstract, they have a surprising number of applications ranging from the refrigerator magnet to industrial applications such as the brushless motor and magnetic coupling. In the 1980s, physicist Klaus Halbach independently invented the Halbach array to focus particle beams, electrons and lasers. Mallinson in 1973, and these "one-sided flux" structures were initially described by him as a curiosity ( IEEE paper link). The effect was initially discovered by John C. Magnetically, this is the same as a single long magnet. ![]() ![]() The single magnet is shown here as 5 cubes like the Halbach array, but with all of the north poles pointing up. With a single magnet, you have an equal strength magnetic field on either side of the magnet, as shown at right. This is very different from the magnetic field around a single magnet. In contrast, the Halbach array shown at right has a very strong field on the top, and a fairly weak field on the bottom.Ī Halbach array is a special arrangement of permanent magnets that makes the magnetic field on one side of the array stronger, while canceling the field to near zero on the other side. The field strength, indicated by the color scale, is equally strong on the top and bottom of the magnet. A single magnet is shown at left, with the north pole facing up throughout.
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