Materials

The crystal laboratory at the Walther-Meißner-Institute has been set up starting in April 2000. Until today it has developed a high degree of specialization in the growth and characterization of single crystals of various transition metal oxides. The WMI research activities in the field of crystal growth are mainly focused on high-temperature superconductors, where the preparation of high quality single crystal is a central projects within the Research Unit FOR 538 of the German Science Foundation (DFG) entitled "Doping dependence of phase transitions and ordering phenomena in cuprate superconductors".

Within a more recent research activity the WMI crystal laboratory contributes to the research program of the Cluster of Excellence "Origin of the Universe" at the Technical University of Munich by the growth of large detector crystals of CaWO₄.                  

To be able to probe the whole phase diagram both on the hole- and electron-doped side of the phase diagram of the cuprate superconductors, a variety of compounds are grown as single crystals:

The WMI crystal laboratory contributes to the Cluster of Excellence "Origin of the Universe" at the Technical University of Munich by the growth of large detector crystals of CaWO₄. These crystals with diameters of several centimeters are grown in pure rhodium crucibles by the Czochralski method.

We also prepare high purity targets for the deposition of thin films and heterostructures of various transition metal oxides by the PLD process. Examples are the ferromagnetic double perovskites, magnetite (Fe₃O₄), the ferromagnetic semiconductor (Zn,Co)O, or multiferroic materials such as BiFeO₃ or BiCrO₃.