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X-ray Crystallography

X-ray Crystallography

The size of the unit cell and the arrangement of atoms in a crystal may be determined from measurements of the diffraction of X-rays by the crystal, termed X-ray crystallography.
Diffraction
Diffraction is the change in the direction of travel experienced by an electromagnetic wave when it encounters a physical barrier whose dimensions are comparable to those of the wavelength of the light. X-rays are electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths about as long as the distance between neighboring...

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Updated: Jun 11, 2025

$Microfluidic Chips for In Situ Crystal X-ray Diffraction and In Situ Dynamic Light Scattering for Serial Crystallography$

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Published on: April 24, 2018

Reconstructing nearly isotropic microstructures to construct a one-dimensional framework causing record birefringence

Lin-Tao Jiang^1,2, Xiao-Ming Jiang^1,3, Yu-Hang Fan⁴

¹State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences Fuzhou Fujian 350002 P. R. China bwliu@fjirsm.ac.cn gcguo@fjirsm.ac.cn.

Chemical Science

|October 2, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

New thiophosphate crystals exhibit record-high birefringence, surpassing commercial materials. This breakthrough in infrared birefringent crystals is achieved by manipulating covalent bonds and crystal structures for advanced optoelectronic applications.

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Synthesis and Exfoliation of Discotic Zirconium Phosphates to Obtain Colloidal Liquid Crystals

Synthesis and Exfoliation of Discotic Zirconium Phosphates to Obtain Colloidal Liquid Crystals

Published on: May 25, 2016

Area of Science:

Solid-state chemistry
Materials science
Crystallography

Background:

Infrared birefringent crystals are crucial for optoelectronics but are rarely reported.
Traditional thiophosphates with tetrahedral PS4, ethane-like P2S6, and octahedral InS6 units exhibit near isotropy and low birefringence.

Purpose of the Study:

To synthesize novel thiophosphate compounds with enhanced birefringence.
To investigate the structural and electronic factors responsible for high birefringence in these new materials.
To explore new strategies for developing advanced birefringent materials.

Main Methods:

Synthesis of novel thiophosphate compounds: α-Rb2InP2S7 (1), β-Rb2InP2S7 (2), and Cs2InP2S7 (3).
Characterization of crystal structures and optical properties, including birefringence measurements.
Analysis of structure-property relationships, focusing on covalent bond interactions and dimensionality.

Main Results:

The synthesized thiophosphates exhibit exceptionally high birefringence values (0.247, 0.298, and 0.250 at 546 nm), with β-Rb2InP2S7 exceeding commercial birefringent materials.
High birefringence is attributed to the stretching and compressing of P-S and In-S bonds, leading to high polarizability anisotropy in polyhedral units (InS6, PS4, P2S6).
Incorporation of alkali metals reduces crystal dimensionality, forming 1D [InP2S7]2- structures and further increasing polarizability anisotropy.

Conclusions:

This study successfully developed thiophosphate crystals with record-high birefringence.
The findings demonstrate that manipulating covalent bond interactions and crystal dimensionality is an effective approach to enhance birefringence.
These novel materials offer promising alternatives for optoelectronic applications requiring high-performance birefringent components.