MRI: Acquisition of a Laser-diode-heated Floating Zone Furnace for Education and Research

罗格斯大学新玩法将利用这项重大研究仪器（MRI）奖获得激光二极管加热浮区炉（L-FZ），该炉将用于生长各种复杂量子材料的高质量大块单晶，包括多铁性，铁电性和低对称性磁体。该仪器将支持罗格斯大学应急材料中心（RCEM）、罗格斯大学和新泽西州立大学的研究和教育。L-FZ是日本新开发的晶体生长炉，通过这笔赠款成功收购L-FZ将导致L-FZ在美国的首次安装，通过确保美国世界领先的晶体量子材料研究来服务于国家利益。例如，与传统的红外线灯加热的浮区炉相比，L-FZ具有独特的功能，如极端的温度梯度，高生长温度和快速生长速率。这些功能将使一组全新的晶体材料的高质量单晶体的生长成为可能，并导致新材料的变革性发现。主要研究者和全国范围内的合作者，例如，来自新泽西理工学院（NJIT），布鲁克海文国家实验室，美国。田纳西大学和约翰霍普金斯大学将从以前无法获得的用于大范围和高分辨率成像技术的晶体中受益匪浅，如扫描探针显微镜和透射电子显微镜以及中子散射。L-FZ将支持研究和教育活动，涉及本科生，研究生和博士后在RCEM，以及K-12学生在新泽西地区和超越通过科学计划的合作伙伴由自由科学中心，新泽西组织。激光二极管加热的浮区炉的功能使[1]亚稳相、[2]不一致的熔融化合物、[3]具有高蒸气压的材料、[4]组成复杂的材料和[5]具有低粘度熔体的材料能够生长。这将是在美国安装的第一台此类机器，并有可能成为功能量子材料合成领域教育和研究的游戏规则改变者。用L-FZ生长的均匀单晶将用于局部/全局拓扑结构的变革性研究，涌现的功能和介观畴，畴壁和纹理的操纵在广泛的晶体材料中，如多铁性，低对称性磁体，介稳相和不适当的铁电体。使用广泛的高分辨率成像技术，如扫描探针显微镜和透射电子显微镜以及中子散射，调查将导致域，域壁和介观纹理，如skyrmions的科学理解和技术开发。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award will be used by Rutgers University New Brunswick to acquire a Laser-diode-heated Floating Zone furnace (L-FZ), which will be used to grow high quality bulk single crystals of a variety of complex quantum materials including multiferroics, ferroelectrics and low-symmetry magnets. The instrument will support research and education at Rutgers Center for Emergent Materials (RCEM), Rutgers, and the State University of New Jersey. L-FZ is a crystal growth furnace that is newly developed in Japan, and the successful acquisition of L-FZ through this grant will result in the first installation of L-FZ in the United States, serving the national interest by ensuring world-leading research on crystalline quantum materials in the US. Compared with, for example, the conventional infrared-lamp-heated Floating Zone furnace, L-FZ has unique functionalities such as the extreme temperature gradients, high growth temperatures and fast growth rates. These functionalities will enable the growth of high-quality single crystals of an entirely new set of crystalline materials and result in transformative discoveries of new materials. The Principal Investigators and nation-wide collaborators from, for example, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Brookhaven National Lab, U. of Tennessee, and Johns Hopkins, will benefit significantly from the previously-unavailable crystals for large-range and high-resolution imaging techniques such as scanning probe microscopy and transmission electron microscopy as well as neutron scattering. L-FZ will support research and education activities involving undergraduate, graduate students and postdocs at RCEM, as well as K-12 students in the New Jersey region and beyond through the Partners in Science Program organized by the Liberty Science Center, New Jersey. The functionalities of the Laser-diode-heated Floating Zone furnace enable the growth of [1] metastable phases, [2] incongruent melting compounds, [3] materials with high vapor pressure, [4] compositional complex materials, and [5] materials with low viscosity melt. It will be the first machine of its kind installed in the United States, and has potential to be a game changer for education and research in the field of the synthesis of functional quantum materials. Homogeneous single crystals grown with L-FZ will be utilized for transformative investigations of local/global topology, emergent functionalities and manipulation of mesoscopic domains, domain walls, and textures in a wide range of crystalline materials such as multiferroics, low-symmetry magnets, thermodynamically metastable phases and improper ferroelectrics. Using a wide-range of high-resolution imaging techniques such as scanning probe microscopy and transmission electron microscopy as well as neutron scattering, investigation will lead to scientific understanding and technological exploitation of domains, domain walls, and mesoscopic textures such as skyrmions.