A major research effort concerns the crystal growth - centimeter size - of multi-functional inorganic materials. A Physics Today article (Aug. 2007, Vol. 60, pp. 26-28) and a recent National Academy of Sciences Report http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12640.html stated clearly that the United States is in danger of becoming a second- or even third-class citizen when it comes to the growth and availability of single crystals of advanced materials. It is not uncommon for material scientists and physicists to go overseas, i.e. hat in hand, to acquire samples for their research. Polycrystalline samples are often available, but these samples have their drawbacks. The crystal structure may not be determined accurately, grain boundaries may impact the physical property measurements, and impurities could be in the sample. With high quality single crystals, these problems are eliminated. Simply put, advanced characterization of single crystals provides a greater depth in understanding materials properties. It is this understanding that is a required step in elucidating structure-property relationships and ultimately providing an avenue for rational materials design. All of this, however, is predicated on the growth of high quality large single crystals.
We use a variety of methods to grow large crystals. These include
Czochralski and Top-seeded solution growth furnaces in the Halasyamani laboratory:
Short movie of crystal growth in action:
Photos of crystals recently grown in the Halasyamani lab
Ba3(ZnB5O10)PO4 - BZBP
Na2TeW2O9
LiFeP2O7
K3V5O14
BaTeMo2O9
Bi2ZnB2O7
KTiOPO4 - KTP
Zn2TeMoO7 - ZTM
Recent Publications
Zhang, W. and Halasyamani, P.S., Crystal Growth and Optical Properties of a UV Nonlinear Optical Material KSrCO3F, CrystEngComm, In Press, 2017.
Wu, H., Yu, H., Zhang, W., Cantwell, J., Poeppelmeier, K.R., Pan, S., and Halasyamani, P.S., Crystal Growth, Linear and Nonlinear Optical Properties of KIO3 . Te(OH)6, Cryst. Growth Des., DOI:10.1021/acs.cgd.7b00704, 2017
Wu, H., Yu, H., Zhang, W., Cantwell, J., Poeppelmeier, K.R., Pan, S., and Halasyamani, P.S., Top-Seeded Solution Crystal Growth, Linear and Nonlinear Optical Properties of Ba4B11O20F (BBOF), Cryst. Growth Des., 17, 1404-1410, 2017.
Zhang, W., Yu, H., Cantwell, J., Wu, H., Poeppelmeier, K.R., and Halasyamani, P.S., LiNa5Mo9O30: Crystal Growth, Linear and Non-linear Optical Properties, 28, 4483-4491, 2016.
Yu, H., Cantwell, J., Wu, H., Zhang, W., Poeppelmeier, K.R., and Halasyamani, P.S., Top-Seeded Solution Crystal Growth, Morphology, Optical and Thermal Properties of Ba3(ZnB5O10)PO4 (BZBP), Cryst. Growth Des., 16, 3976-3982, 2016.
Yu, H., Zhang, W., and Halasyamani, P.S., Large Birefringent Materials: Na6Te4W6O29 and Na2TeW2O9 - Synthesis, structure, crystal growth, and characterization, Cryst. Growth Des., 16, 1081-1087, 2016.
Zhang, W. and Halasyamani, P.S., Top-seeded solution crystal growth of Noncentrosymmetric and Polar Zn2TeMoO7 (ZTM), J. Solid State Chem., 236, 32-38, 2016.
Pachoud, E., Zhang, W., Tapp, J., Liang, K.-C., Lorenz, B., Chu, C.W., and Halasyamani, P.S., Single Crystal Growth, Structure, and Physical Properties of LiCrP2O7, Cryst. Growth Des., 13, 5473-5480, 2013.
Zhang, W. and Halasyamani, P.S., Top-seeded solution crystal growth of Noncentrosymmetric and Polar K3V5O14, CrystEngComm., 14, 6839-6842, 2012.
Zhang, W. and Halasyamani, P.S. Top-Seeded Solution Crystal Growth and Functional Properties of Polar LiFeP2O7, Crystal Growth and Design, 12, 2127-2132, 2012.
Zhang, W., Halasyamani, P.S., Gao, Z., Wang, S., Jian, W., and Tao, X., Anisotropic Thermal Properties of the Nonlinear Optical and Polar Oxide Material Na2TeW2O9, Crystal Growth and Design, 11, 3636–3641, 2011.