CERN's Next Collider Will Smash Atoms Even Harder With New Super Magnets

Scientists at CERN are building a major upgrade for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) called the High-Luminosity LHC, scheduled to start after 2030. The goal is to dramatically increase the number of particle collisions—from about 60 to potentially 200 every 40 million times per second—to boost the chances of spotting rare particles and phenomena. To achieve this, they need much stronger magnets.

The current LHC magnets, made from a niobium-titanium alloy, are at their physical limit. The new magnets will use a brittle but more powerful superconducting material called niobium-tin (Nb₃Sn), pushing magnetic field strength from 8.3 tesla to nearly 12 tesla. This requires a completely new 'wind-and-react' manufacturing process. For physicists and engineers, this represents a monumental engineering leap that will define the next era of fundamental particle discovery.