We prepare high quality bulk single crystals for physics research using a variety of melt and solution growth techniques. We have excellent facilities for sample preparation and characterisation: we use our extensive range of furnaces and crystal growth equipment to prepare samples in specific forms suitable for experiments and we perform structural, chemical and physical characterisation with the capability to align, cut and polish crystals according to need.
What we do
Material preparation and handling
- Wet chemistry and solid state synthesis
- Inert gas glove box (nitrogen/argon)
- Well-equipped cutting and polishing laboratory
- X-ray diffraction facilities (powder and single-crystal)
- Sintering and annealing furnaces (up to 1600oC)
Crystal growth methods
- Optical floating-zone method using image furnaces (low and high pressure)
- Flux growth in a crucible
- Czochralski
- Bridgman
- Chemical vapour transport
Characterisation techniques
- X-ray diffraction (powder, Laue, single crystal)
- Thermogravimetric analysis
- Squid magnetometry (MPMS)
- Transport, thermodynamic, magnetisation (PPMS)