Centre for Applied Quantum Technology (ZAQuant)

From 2021, 70 employees will be pursuing a research approach in the University of Stuttgart’s approximately 8,500 square metre building that is internationally unique. The objective will be to try and detect neuromagnetic fields, magnetic fields that are generated by neuronal activities such as brain activity. These magnetic fields are very small. If one wants to detect them the environment mussn't create itself magnetic fields. That is only possible if there is no metal in the experiment room.

The high-precision laboratories are located in the centre of the three-storey research building, where the building dynamic and shielding conditions for the experiments are best. At the heart of the building is the experiment hall with four high-precision measuring rooms. The entire building structure is constructed according to the shell principle in order to provide optimum protection for the testing equipment against external influences.

The planning and construction of the four high-precision measuring rooms represented the central challenge of the project. These rooms are located directly on the floor slab in the centre of the building. Concrete boxes with identical external dimensions and different heights will be constructed. Due to the electromagnetic sensitivity of the experiments, all foundation blocks and test tables in the boxes are reinforced with glass fibre. The outside of the complete box will have a cladding of metal alloy sheets. Magnetically conductive components are no longer possible inside this cladding. That is why the surrounding wall and the ceiling of the box will be built completely without steel reinforcement. In-situ concrete walls with formwork blocks reinforced with the glass fibre composite material, Schöck Combar®, will be used. The ceiling is also made of in-situ concrete with glass fibre reinforcement.

Schöck Combar® consists of corrosion-resistant glass fibres bonded with vinyl ester. It has an extremely low thermal conductivity and is particularly strong and durable, non-flammable, corrosion-resistant, resistant to chemical attack, easy to machine and neither electrically conductive nor magnetizable - that is why Schöck Combar® can be used to achieve electromagnetic decoupling of components to minimise electromagnetic interference and external influences.