Acquisition of an Optical Image Furnace for Single Crystal Growth, Materials Research, and Education

这笔赠款为购买光学成像炉(OIF)提供资金，该炉专为高度受控的单晶生长而设计。对新型过渡金属氧化物、压电材料、薄膜生长和光学材料的研究将立即受到此次收购的影响。该炉子将用于合成处于科学前沿的新材料单晶，从而能够确定新材料的基本行为。通过这项收购，可以评估各向异性，寻找新的薄膜衬底，并改进用于谐振光学、光谱烧孔和压电应用的材料的性能。首席调查员(PI)拥有使用OIF的丰富经验，密歇根州立大学的现有基础设施也对此次收购起到了补充作用。PI进行了广泛的合作，在密歇根州立大学生长的单晶将提供给其他科学家。文中还讨论了OIF的一些新用途。预计预计与当地公司科学材料公司的密切互动将在单晶生长方面取得新的进展。拟议活动的更广泛影响是重大的。OIF提供以下教育优势：(1)PI将培训一批使用该设备的高级科学家；(2)它将被整合到本科生和研究生研究项目中，使学生能够生长自己的单晶体；以及(3)它将用于本科生和研究生凝聚态物理的课堂实验室项目，允许学生在通常没有实验室工作的课堂上生长、表征和定向单晶体。该熔炉将用于夏季REU计划中的单晶生长项目，该计划针对的是美洲原住民。它将加强密歇根州立大学现有的基础设施，为与当地公司建立牢固的合作伙伴关系埋下种子，并在美国西北部提供一个新的用户设施，扩大技术基础设施。

This grant provides funds for the purchase of an Optical Image Furnace (OIF) designed for highly controlled single crystal growth. Research in novel transition metal oxides, piezoelectric materials, thin-film growth, and optical materials will be immediately impacted by this acquisition. The furnace will be used to synthesize single crystals of novel materials at the forefront of science thereby allowing a determination of fundamental behavior of new materials. This acquisition permits the evaluation of anisotropies, a search for new thin-film substrates, and improvement of the performance of materials used in resonant optical, spectral hole burning, and piezoelectric applications. The Principal Investigator (PI) has extensive experience using an OIF and the existing infrastructure at MSU compliments this acquisition as well. The PI collaborates extensively, and the single crystals grown at MSU will be made available to other scientists. A number of new uses for the OIF are discussed. It is expected that anticipated close interaction with Scientific Materials Corporation, a local company, will lead to new advances in single crystal growth. The broader impacts of the proposed activity are significant. The OIF offers the following educational advantages: (1) the PI will train a number of senior scientists in use of the device; (2) it will be integrated into undergraduate and graduate research projects enabling students to grow their own single crystals; and (3) it will be used for class laboratory projects in undergraduate and graduate condensed matter physics allowing students to grow, characterize, and orient single crystals in classes normally devoid of laboratory work. The furnace will be utilized for single crystal growth projects in the summer REU program, which targets Native Americans. It will enhance the current infrastructure at MSU, plant the seeds for strong partnerships with local companies, and provide a new user facility in the Northwestern USA, expanding the technological infrastructure.