Who?? Pronounced Yan Cho-ral-skee, we owe a lot to Dr. Jan Czochralski. Czochralski is considered the father of modern crystal growth methods. The Czochralski method is a way of creating crystals from semiconductors, metals, salts, and synthetic gemstones. Czochralski discovered this method in 1916 on accident. He was writing with his pen, and rather than dipping the tip into his ink, he accidentally dipped it into a crucible of hot melted tin rather than his ink. When he removed the pen, he noted that the pen held a thread of solidified metal at the end. After some careful research and many experiments, Czochralski was able to perfect this method and it is used in modern day crystal growing plants. One such company that uses this is Northrop Grumman. They grow synthetic crystals for use in laser optics. Czochralski's method of dipping a seed into a crucible and the eventual production of a crystal. These crystals vary in size and substance based on the application. You may wonder what on earth does "synthetic crystals for use in laser optics" mean? Well, basically, anything we need that requires light magnification and lasers, probably has a crystal in it. Dentists use these crystals in their lasers, the military uses crystals to magnify the lasers they use on defense weapons (hence Northrop Grumman is using this process), these crystals are used in CAT and PET scans to amplify laser light. And very simply, if you have ever been to Walt Disney World and see the wonderful laser light show they put on, crystals grown with the Czochralski method, are used in that show. I was amazed how something so simple, and something we never really give much thought to, is used so often in our daily lives! If not for lasers and synthetic crystal growth, our world would be significantly different! (One of these such Northrup Grumman crystal growth plants is here in Charlotte, North Carolina)
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Jan Czochralski
Who?? Pronounced Yan Cho-ral-skee, we owe a lot to Dr. Jan Czochralski. Czochralski is considered the father of modern crystal growth methods. The Czochralski method is a way of creating crystals from semiconductors, metals, salts, and synthetic gemstones. Czochralski discovered this method in 1916 on accident. He was writing with his pen, and rather than dipping the tip into his ink, he accidentally dipped it into a crucible of hot melted tin rather than his ink. When he removed the pen, he noted that the pen held a thread of solidified metal at the end. After some careful research and many experiments, Czochralski was able to perfect this method and it is used in modern day crystal growing plants. One such company that uses this is Northrop Grumman. They grow synthetic crystals for use in laser optics. Czochralski's method of dipping a seed into a crucible and the eventual production of a crystal. These crystals vary in size and substance based on the application. You may wonder what on earth does "synthetic crystals for use in laser optics" mean? Well, basically, anything we need that requires light magnification and lasers, probably has a crystal in it. Dentists use these crystals in their lasers, the military uses crystals to magnify the lasers they use on defense weapons (hence Northrop Grumman is using this process), these crystals are used in CAT and PET scans to amplify laser light. And very simply, if you have ever been to Walt Disney World and see the wonderful laser light show they put on, crystals grown with the Czochralski method, are used in that show. I was amazed how something so simple, and something we never really give much thought to, is used so often in our daily lives! If not for lasers and synthetic crystal growth, our world would be significantly different! (One of these such Northrup Grumman crystal growth plants is here in Charlotte, North Carolina)
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