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

这项重大研究仪器奖将被新不伦瑞克罗格斯大学用于获得激光二极管加热浮动区熔炉(L-FZ)，该熔炉将用于生长各种复杂量子材料的高质量块状单晶，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，通过这笔捐赠成功收购L-FZ将导致L-FZ在美国的首次安装，通过确保美国晶体量子材料的研究处于世界领先地位，服务于国家利益。例如，与传统的红外灯加热浮区炉相比，L-FZ具有极高的温度梯度、高的生长温度和快速的生长速度等独特的功能。这些功能将使一套全新的晶体材料生长出高质量的单晶，并导致新材料的变革性发现。例如，来自新泽西理工学院(NJIT)、布鲁克海文国家实验室、田纳西大学和约翰霍普金斯大学的首席研究人员和全国范围内的合作者将从以前无法获得的用于大范围和高分辨率成像技术(如扫描探针显微镜和透射电子显微镜以及中子散射)的晶体中受益匪浅。L FZ将通过新泽西州自由科学中心组织的科学伙伴计划，支持RCEM的本科生、研究生和博士后，以及新泽西地区和其他地区的K-12学生参与的研究和教育活动。激光二极管加热浮区炉的功能使[1]亚稳相、[2]不一致熔体化合物、[3]高蒸汽压材料、[4]组成复合材料和[5]低粘度熔体材料生长。这将是安装在美国的第一台此类机器，并有可能改变功能量子材料合成领域的教育和研究。用L-FZ生长的均质单晶将被用来研究局部/全局拓扑、涌现功能以及对多铁性、低对称性磁体、热力学亚稳相和非正常铁电材料等广泛晶体材料中介观磁畴、磁畴壁和织构的操纵。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，研究将导致对磁区、磁区壁和介观结构(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.