Abstract
We report on a study of laser-induced nucleation (LIN) of sodium chlorate in supersaturated aqueous solutions using focused nanosecond laser pulses at high energy densities (420 kJ cm–2). On irradiation with a single laser pulse, optical breakdown was observed in the form of a luminous plasma, and numerous microbubbles were produced. On the basis of the observations, we estimate the energy threshold for optical breakdown in the solutions to be 70 J cm–2. Remarkably, even at high energy densities, single laser pulses produced on average only one or two crystals. The mean number of crystals obtained was 1.5 (532 nm) and 1.8 (1064 nm) per sample (3 cm3). The effect of left circularly polarized (LCP) and right circularly polarized (RCP) light on the nucleation of dextrorotatory (d) versus levorotatory (l) enantiomorphs of cubic (phase I) sodium chlorate crystals was investigated. No significant correlation between the helicity of circular polarization and the chirality of enantiomorph was observed. The result...
Highlights
Growth of high-quality crystals is needed for many important applications, such as structure determination by X-ray scattering, or measurement of bulk physical properties
In previous work in our group, we demonstrated non-photochemical laser-induced nucleation (NPLIN) in molten sodium chlorate, and showed that the samples had a memory of the enantiomorph used to produce the melt.[19,20]
In summary, we have conducted a study of laser-induced nucleation (LIN) using single nanosecond laser pulses focused into bulk samples of supersaturated aqueous sodium chlorate
Summary
Growth of high-quality crystals is needed for many important applications, such as structure determination by X-ray scattering, or measurement of bulk physical properties. The probability of spontaneous nucleation can be increased by raising the supersaturation of a solution; but when supersaturation is too high, it can lead to multiple primary and secondary nucleation events, resulting in small crystallites with poor crystal quality and habit.[1]. To promote crystal growth at low supersaturation, various methods for inducing nucleation by perturbation have been used. Methods that are less invasive include application of external acoustic waves or electric fields.[2,3] Laser-induced nucleation (LIN) is a promising technique for promoting nucleation which can be applied externally to a closed system.[4,5]
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