RESEARCH

Research at the Laboratory of Crystallography

Research at the laboratory of crystallography aims at establishing relationships between crystal structure and physical properties, as well as at providing the structural basics for the understanding of phase transitions. The Research is concentrated on aperiodic crystals, including phase transitions between incommensurate, periodic and partially ordered structures. The second topic of interest is accurate charge-density studies by the Maximum Entropy Method for both periodic and aperiodic crystals. Experimental methods at the Laboratory of Crystallography include single-crystal x-ray diffraction and x-ray powder diffraction (Equipment). Both techniques can be combined with low- and high temperature attachments and they can be performed at high pressures. X-ray scattering is also performed with synchrotron radiation at Hasylab (Hamburg), ESRF (Grenoble), and NSLS (Brookhaven - USA).

A selection of specific projects
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• Maximum Entropy Method (MEM)
• Low-dimensional magnetic materials
• Charge-density-wave compounds
• Materials physics

Case Studies

2013: Anisotropic thermal expansion and two-dimensional ferromagnetic clusters in La_n(Ti_1-xFe_x)_nO_3n+2 (n = 5 and n = 6)
2013: Orbital order in alpha-B₁₂ and gamma-B₂₈ polymorphs of elemental boron by multipole refinements and the Maximum Entropy Method
2012: Experimental static and dynamic electron densities of alpha-Glycine and D,L-Serine
2011: Chemical bonding in boron from the experimental charge density of ɤ-B₂₈
2010: Commensurate charge-density wave in SmNiC₂ at T = 60 K rendered incommensurate by frustration
2005: Incommensurate magnetic order in the spin-Peierls compounds TiOBr and TiOCl
2004: Charge-density wave transitions in Er₅Ir₄Si₁₀
2002: Incommensurately modulated Sr₂Nb₂O₇
2001: Crystal structures of Nb₃Te₄ at high pressures
2001: Two-dimensional charge-density wave in (PO₂)₄(WO₃)₈
2001: Structure of the charge-density wave in(TaSe₄)₂I
2000: Charge-Order in NaV₂O₅