Centre for Crystal Growth

People

Research

The BIMR houses one of the most extensive sets of crystal growth infrastructure in North America. These growth facilities include:

1. 2 Floating Zone Optical Image Furnaces
2. DC tri-ARC Crystal Growth Station
3. Skull-Melt Station
4. Computer-assisted Czochralski Furnace
5. Directional Solidification/Bridgeman Furnaces
6. Flux Growth Laboratory

This suite of infrastructure enables the growth of single crystals of virtually all classes of inorganic materials. They enable growth of materials which melt congruently, and those that do not, and therefore require a flux. The most recent addition to this suite of crystal growth apparatus is the two floating zone optical image furnaces, which are optimized for large single crystal growth of oxide materials. This $1M image furnace laboratory is one of only two such facilities in Canada, and is the most advanced of its kind in Canada. Single crystals of new magnetic and superconducting oxides weighing as much as 10 grams have been grown in this laboratory. The resulting single crystals are in pristine form, as no crucible is used in image furnace growth.