| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/Y015177/1 |
| Title: |
Crystal growth of new research materials: a high gas pressure laser furnace at UCL-Harwell |
| Principal Investigator: |
Perry, Professor RS |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
London Centre for Nanotechnology |
| Organisation: |
UCL |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research |
| Starts: |
01 October 2023 |
Ends: |
30 September 2025 |
Value (£): |
880,671
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Condensed Matter Physics |
Magnetism/Magnetic Phenomena |
| Materials Characterisation |
Materials Synthesis & Growth |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
| No relevance to Underpinning Sectors |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
Single crystals are materials in pristine, perfect form. Most people interact with them daily, from gemstones (emeralds, rubies) to silicon-based transistors (computer chips). Their ubiquity and importance to modern life are due to their quality and reproducibility; they are perfectly engineered materials with precise dopants that produce reliable and powerful technologies. That said, we have relied on remarkably few materials in single crystalline form for our technological development. Examples are silicon, Gallium arsenide and cadmium telluride. For emerging technologies in optoelectronics and quantum computing, we will require single crystals of new materials that underpin these new sectors of science and engineering.
We aim to create a unique UK crystal growth facility whose centrepiece will be a laser-heated, ultra-high-pressure floating zone furnace (HP-LFZ). This facility will produce large, cubic-centimetre scale single crystal ingots of new material systems previously unavailable to UK scientists and industry. It will benefit a broad range of scientists and engineers, notably condensed matter physicists, electronic and chemical engineers, and laser physicists. The facility will be open to all UK scientists and engineers; we will provide training and free equipment access to enable users to synthesise their desired materials. The HP-LFZ is a recent leap forward in crystal growth methods. It opens a new regime of temperature and pressure (2500 Celcius / 300 bar gas pressure) for the growth of materials from the melt in the form of large (> 1 cubic centimetre), high-quality single crystals and is particularly suited to realising crystals of volatile or incongruently melting materials that are unavailable to standard melt-growth techniques.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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