Single Crystal Growth at Warwick

材料的研究对现代技术的发展至关重要。只有在推动这一进步的材料物理学家和化学家的努力下，才有可能取得进步，他们首先发现新材料，然后不断改进材料的性能，从而提高其性能，使其能够用于关键的工业应用。为了优化许多材料的品质因数，重要的是对材料的高质量单晶进行详细的研究。没有单晶，通常不可能理解材料的基本物理特性。因此，单晶生长具有战略重要性，使我们能够在凝聚态物理研究的最前沿工作。拟议的方案将在超导和磁性小组内进行，该小组是一个完善的中心，拥有生产高质量晶体和调查各种新材料和外来材料特性的所有必要的专门知识和设备。在拟议的项目中，高质量的氧化物，硒化物，硅化物，硼化物和金属间化合物的单晶将以单晶形式生长。目标材料包括各种低维和受抑磁体;奇异超导体;用于异质结构的2D，分层和磁可分裂材料;拓扑绝缘体。在实验室中对这些晶体的研究，加上在中心设施中使用中子和X射线散射、μ子光谱学以及ARPES和高磁场测量等技术进行的研究，将使人们能够对这些材料的物理特性形成统一的认识。对于通过浮区技术生长晶体，我们将使用我们在沃里克拥有的三种不同的光学镜炉（两种卤素灯炉和一种氙弧灯炉）。光学镜炉使我们能够在不同的生长条件下生长晶体，包括各种气体气氛，压力高达10 bar，温度高达3000摄氏度。对其中一个炉子的拟议升级将使其能够在最大40巴的压力下运行。助熔剂生长、布里奇曼生长和化学气相传输等其他技术也可用于某些材料的晶体生长，而直拉技术将用于使用四弧炉生产金属间化合物材料的单晶。晶体生长活动旨在继续支持多年来建立的现有广泛合作网络，并吸引新的合作。我们希望整个英国材料和物理界以及许多国际科学家能够从我们的工作和高质量单晶样品的提供中受益。

The study of materials is of fundamental importance to the development of modern day technologies. Advances are only possible because of the efforts of materials physicists and chemists who drive this progress, first discovering new materials and then continually improving the material's properties, and therefore their performance, to enable their use in key industrial applications. In order to optimize the figure of merit of many materials, it is important to carry out detailed investigations on high quality single crystals of the materials. Without single crystals, it is often not possible to understand the underlying physics of a material. Single crystal growth is therefore of strategic importance, allowing us to work at the forefront of investigations of the physics of condensed matter. The proposed programme will be carried out within the Superconductivity and Magnetism Group, which is a well-established centre with all the necessary expertise and equipment for both the production of high quality crystals, and the investigation of the properties of, a wide range of new and exotic materials. In the proposed project, high quality single crystals of oxides, selenides, silicides, borides, and intermetallics will be grown in single crystal form. Target materials include various low-dimensional and frustrated magnets; exotic superconductors; 2D, layered, and magnetic cleavable materials for heterostructures ; topological insulators. The studies of these crystals in the laboratory, complemented by those at central facilities using techniques such as neutron and x-ray scattering, muon spectroscopy, as well as ARPES and measurements in high magnetic fields, will enable a unified picture of the physics of the materials to be developed. For crystal growth by the floating zone technique, we will use the three different optical mirror furnaces that we have at Warwick (two halogen lamp furnaces and one xenon arc lamp furnace). The optical mirror furnaces allow us to grow crystals under different growth conditions including various gas atmospheres, in pressures of up to 10 bars and at temperatures of up to 3000 degrees C. A proposed upgrade to one of these furnaces will enable it operate at a maximum of 40 bars pressure. Other techniques such as flux growth, Bridgman growth and chemical vapour transport are also available for use for the crystal growth of certain materials, while the Czochralski technique will be used to produce single crystals of intermetallic materials using a tetra-arc furnace.The crystal growth activity intends to continue to support the existing wide collaborative network that has been built up over many years, and to attract new collaborations. We expect the whole of the UK materials and physics community, as well as many international scientists, to benefit from our work and the provision of high quality single crystal samples.