The
Crystal Growth group focuses on applying, modifying and developing techniques to grow large and high-quality single crystals from melt, solution or vapor. The techniques used comprise the traveling solvent floating zone method, flux or top-seeded solution growth, vapor transport, Bridgman, Czochralski and hydrothermal growth. There is continual interest in further study of superconductivity in the cuprate compounds, such as, REBa
2Cu
3O
7-d (RE = Rare earth), YBa
2Cu
4O
8, Bi
2Sr
2Ca
n-1Cu
nO
2+4n+d. (n = 1,2,3) and Bi
2Sr
2-xLa
xCuO
6. A typical example is the CDW induced by an in-plane field, setting in above the dome in single-layered Bi
2Sr
2-xLa
xCuO
6. A modified flux method was applied to grow iron-based single crystals. The Co-doped KFeCoAs
2 is recognized as isoelectronic to the parent compound of BaFe
2As
2. New results of structural magnetic fluctuations were obtained by doping Mn local moments in BaFe
2As
2. A modified Bridgman method was used to grow high-quality topological superconductor crystals of Cu
xBi
2Se
3 (x ≈ 0.8, 1.0, 1.2 and 1.5). A pronounced peak effect was observed by magnetization and electrical transport measurements in a Cu
0.10Bi
2Se
3 single crystal. Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite CH
3NH
3PbX
3 single crystals for solid–state solar cell devices were grown using a hydrohalic acid solution method. Recent research highlights include the hydrothermal growth of (Li
1−xFe
x)OHFeSe (11111) compounds. Also, we have set up new types of high-pressure cells and have just started the single crystal growth under high pressure in collaboration with department Takagi. Additionally, we have started to search for new interesting materials in solid-state physics and chemistry in parallel, by using single crystal growth.
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