Stories and Testimonials

Every now and then, there is a story to tell or something beautiful to show. 

A marvellous aspect of our work is that we get to make beautiful single crystals. Here are some pictures of MnBi, MnSn₂, NbSe₂, BaFe₂S₃, BaCoS₂, FeSe, FeGe, SrCo₂As₂ and others. Enjoy!

A long awaited moment: the installation of our first magnet cryostat! Set-up and installation went smoothly, despite a few tight spots. All testing and training was perfect, too – a big thanks to Ricardo here. We can now reach temperatures (T) below 2 K and magnetic fields (B) up to 17 T and are exited about the new research to come. 

The growth of single crystals often proceeds in spirals. And sometimes, such spirals show up beautifully! See here the striking hexagonal growth “spiral” of an NbSe2 single crystal prepared from the vapor phase.

FeSe single crystals grow from the vapor phase, enclosed in an ampoule together with liquid salts. So, Maik Golombiewski set up a camera to watch them grow. We can learn about the crystals’ surprisingly large growth speed (at least for the in-plane direction) and also: it is extremely beautiful!

Our legacy Helium cryostat was unfortunately not functional. Any technical drawings are missing since the 1980s and could not be retrieved from the company either. So, Max Brückner, with the help of many of the team, took the cryostat completely apart and reassembled it. What an insight into cryotechnology!