Materials Discovery Laboratory

different crystals — Crystals grown at the Materials Discovery Laboratory using different techniques

Facility

The Materials Discovery Lab is a synthesis and crystal growth facility based in the Department of Materials (D-MATL), at ETH Zurich. The facility stems from a joint initiative between D-MATL and the external page Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), with the aim to strengthen the collaboration and exchange of students between ETH Zurich and PSI. The Materials Discovery Lab actively trains undergraduate and graduate students in advanced crystal growth and investigation methods through projects.

The Materials Discovery Lab kicked off in 2021 with the hiring of Dr. Monica Ciomaga Hatnean as the Lab manager and PSI research scientist. The facility benefited from start-up funding from the ETH Board and PSI for equipment and staff. The commissioning of the first experimental equipment started in 2023.

The research of the Materials Discovery Lab targets the broader areas of Materials Science, Solid State Chemistry and Condensed Matter Physics, and focuses on the study of materials that exhibit exotic states of matter (e.g., topological insulators, superconductors, skyrmion lattices), frustrated magnetism (e.g., pyrochlores, garnets), multiferroic, ferroelectric and magnetoelectric properties, as well as 2D materials.

The structural and physical properties of the materials prepared at the Materials Discovery Lab is investigated using a wide range of techniques, including powder and single crystal X-ray diffraction, magnetisation, thermodynamic and transport measurements, which are available in D-MATL, as well as synchrotron, neutron scattering and muon spectroscopy techniques available at large scale facilities.

The research work carried out at the Materials Discovery Lab benefits from continuos funding from D-MATL and PSI for equipment and staff. Other sources of financial support include projects funded by the external page Swiss Nanoscience Institute (2023-2026) and the external page PSI Research Grant (2023-2025).

People

Head of Materials Discovery Lab

Dr. Monica Ciomaga Hatnean

Lecturer at the Department of Materials

Dep. Materialwissenschaft
Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 1-5/10
8093 Zürich
Switzerland

ETH webpage
external page PSI webpage

External people working at the Materials Discovery Lab

Tobias Rouven Geise (Funded by Swiss Nanoscience Institute)

PhD Student

Detail page

Paul Scherrer Institute
Forschungsstrasse 111
5232 Villigen PSI
Switzerland

Dr. Arnau Romaguera Camps (Funded by PSI Research Grants)

Postdoc

Detail page

Paul Scherrer Institute
Forschungsstrasse 111
5232 Villigen PSI
Switzerland

Infrastructure

The infrastructure available in the Materials Discovery Lab enables the preparation of polycrystalline and single crystal samples of a wide range of inorganic compounds, such as oxides, borides, chalcogenides, oxichalcogenides and intermetallics.

The associated suite of synthesis and crystal growth techniques includes solid-state reaction methods for polycrystalline samples, and various techniques (floating zone, flux, freeze gradient Bridgman, chemical vapour transport and low temperature evaporation) for single crystal samples grown from the melt, solution or vapour phase.

If you would like to know more about the sample prepared at the Materials Discovery Lab that may be available for collaborative projects, please do not hesitate to contact us. In addition, we also encourage you to contact us if you would like to collaborate to synthesise crystals of various materials using the infrastructure available Materials Discovery Lab.