At the finish of the year

Crystals - subject of research

On 18 December, Head of the Department of Condensed Matter Physics of the Physical-Technical Institute of the V.I.Vernadsky Crimean Federal University Mark B.Strugatsky made a report on "Iron borate monocrystals: synthesis, effects, high-tech applications".

Introducing the speaker, FLNP Director Egor Lychagin emphasized that "we can think about what technique, not only with the help of neutrons, can help colleagues in their investigation of crystals and organize joint research."

"We synthesize crystals, explore them and try to find applications," Mark Borisovich started. "Iron borate is a transparent magnet, it has unique effects." Iron borate monocrystals, FeBO₃, due to the peculiarities of their crystallomagnetic structure, are model objects of numerous investigations in the field of solid state physics and magnetism. The speaker presented the results of investigations of surface magnetism; magnetic birefringence of transverse sound - an acoustic analogue of the Cotton-Mouton magneto-optic effect; interacting with a magnetic subsystem of a longitudinal sound crystal induced by femtosecond laser pulses; the neutron diffraction output from the reference plane detected by the high pressure sublattice magnetizations; features of magnetic resonance. In addition, an abnormal decrease in magnetization with a decrease in temperature has not yet been explained in iron borate crystals. The researchers believe that the effect can be unambiguously interpreted using neutron techniques.

The rare combination of iron borate properties also allows it to be considered as an active element of advanced high-tech devices. In recent years, there has been a clear trend in this area. The present crystal is a transparent magnet. Researchers from KFU succeeded to show that under certain conditions, it has a very large Faraday effect, that is, it functions as a magneto-optical converter. It has recently been found that iron borate can be very effective in spintronic devices. The speaker emphasized promising results in its application in current synchrotron complexes as an ideal monochromator of synchrotron radiation. According to M.B.Strugatsky, the promotion of the latter area will allow developing a powerful new technique for studying the structure, electronic and magnetic properties of matter - Mossbauer spectroscopy using synchrotron photon sources.

Also, at the seminar, the results of the synthesis of iron borate monocrystals by two growing techniques were presented: molten solution that allows obtaining thin monocrystalline plates and gas transportation that allows synthesizing bulk samples. The Department of Condensed Matter Physics cooperates with Moscow State University, the Institute of Crystallography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Physical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Kurchatov Institute Research Centre, the Institute of Physics of the SB RAS and the Russian Quantum Centre. Numerous questions to the speaker after his speech from the FLNP staff demonstrated a deep interest in the research of colleagues.

Olga TARANTINA