High gradient quadrupoles are key components for the coming generation of storage ring based light sources. The typical specifications of these magnets are: almost 100 T=m gradient, half a meter long, and a vertical aperture for the extraction of the x-ray beam. This paper presents the preparation work done at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, from the design to the manufacture and measurements of a prototype. It demonstrates the feasibility of such magnets. Different aspects of

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... t engineering are discussed, including the study of the main scale factors and the preliminary design, the pole shaping, the impact of mechanical errors, and the magnetic measurements of a prototype with a stretched-wire system.