Halbach array

Common card · No. 242859

A Halbach array (German: [ˈhalbax]) is a special arrangement of permanent magnets that augments the magnetic field on one side of the array while cancelling the field to near zero on the other side. This is achieved by having a spatially rotating pattern of magnetisation. The rotating pattern of permanent magnets (on the front face; on the left, up, right, down) can be continued indefinitely and have the same effect. The effect of this arrangement is roughly similar to many horseshoe magnets placed adjacent to each other, with similar poles touching. The one-sided flux configuration was first described in 1957 by W. K. Westmijze in US patent US2981871A. It also appears, in 1970, in US patent US3674946A Fig 29 by James (Jim) M. Winey of Magnepan. The effect was also discovered by John C. Mallinson in 1973 and later generalized. These "one-sided flux" structures were initially described by him as a "curiosity", although at the time he recognized from this discovery the potential for significant...

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