A state-of-the-art optical floating-zone furnace for crystal growth at high pressures

我们周围都是为我们执行某种功能的人造物体--手机、电脑、机器人、汽车、家用电器等等，不一而足。这些设备装满了电子、磁性或光学组件，其操作取决于组成材料的特殊性质。例如，我们使用的许多电子设备包含非常高纯度的单晶硅，其半导体特性使其适合支持集成电路。更广泛地说，新技术依赖于能够为我们发挥不同功能的材料的发展。产生新的和更好的应用材料的过程是一个发现、理解、建模和优化的过程。这一旅程的一个关键早期步骤是准备单晶形式的材料。单晶是一种在原子水平上具有高度完美性的物质形式，对于确定材料在不同条件下的行为及其原因的基础研究是必不可少的。因此，对材料科学和技术来说，重要的是要有制备单晶的技术。这项提议寻求资金，以安装和操作一种被称为光学浮动区熔炉的设备来制备晶体。这种类型的熔炉使用光作为热源，并通过反射镜将光能聚焦到一块材料上，以便将其熔化。通过缓慢扫描沿棒材的熔化(“漂浮”)区域，可以在液体凝固时生长出晶体。我们要求的炉型是一种新设计的光学浮区炉，它允许生长过程在高压(高达300倍大气压)的氧气和Ar气体的混合物中进行。使用高气压可以生长在正常条件下无法生长的某些材料的晶体。我们要求的设备将是英国第一个此类设备，将用于生长一系列材料，从显示出理想的磁、电子和超导性能的金属氧化物，到具有新型量子相的系统，到在能源、光电子和信息存储应用中具有相当大前景的材料。一旦安装并投入使用，我们将使用新设备运行晶体生长计划，以提供样品，确保牛津大学和其他英国大学以及国家研究设施(如位于哈威尔校园的钻石光源和ISIS设施)的量子和功能材料研究取得成功。

We are surrounded by man-made objects that perform a function for us - cell phones, computers, robots, cars, domestic appliances and so on, to name but a few. These devices are packed full of electronic, magnetic or optical components whose operation depends on the special properties of the constituent materials. For example, many of the electronic devices we use contain very highly purified silicon in single crystal form whose semiconductor characteristics makes it suitable to support integrated circuits. More generally, new technologies depend on the development of materials which can perform different functions for us. The process which leads to new and better materials for applications is one of discovery, understanding, modelling and optimization. A key early step in this journey is the preparation of the material in single crystal form. Single crystals are a form of matter with a high degree of perfection at the atomic level, and are essential for the fundamental research that determines how materials behave under different conditions, and why. It is therefore important for the science and technology of materials that techniques exist to prepare single crystals.This proposal seeks funding to install and operate a piece of equipment to prepare crystals called an optical floating-zone furnace. This type of furnace uses light as a heat source and mirrors to focus the light energy onto a bar of material in order to melt it. By slowing scanning the molten ("floating") zone along the bar one can grow a crystal as the liquid solidifies. The type of furnace we request is a new design of optical floating-zone furnace which allows the growth process to take place in a high pressure (up to 300 times atmospheric pressure) mixture of oxygen and argon gas. The use of a high gas pressure makes it possible to grow crystals of certain materials which cannot be grown under normal conditions.The equipment we are requesting will be the first of its type in the UK, and will be used to grow a broad range of materials, ranging from metal oxides that exhibit desirable magnetic, electronic and superconducting properties, through systems with novel quantum phases to materials that offer considerable promise for use in energy, optoelectronic and information storage applications. Once installed and commissioned, we will operate a programme of crystal growth with the new equipment to provide samples which will ensure the success of quantum and functional materials research in Oxford and other UK universities, and at the national research facilities such as the Diamond Light Source and ISIS Facility on the Harwell campus.