Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Condensed matter

How do your crystals grow?

Nature Physics volume 5, pages 13–14 (2009)Cite this article

More than 100 years ago, Wilhelm Ostwald predicted that crystalline structures would grow from the melt via a series of unstable states — now this cascade has been observed directly in an inorganic semiconductor.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: It happens in stages.

References

  1. Chung, S.-Y., Kim, Y.-M., Kim, J.-G. & Kim, Y.-J. Nature Phys. 5, 68–73 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Ostwald, W. Z. Z. Phys. Chem. 22, 289–330 (1897).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Threlfall, T. Org. Process Res. Dev. 7, 1017–1027 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Zou, X. & Hovmöller, S. Acta Crystallogr. A 64, 149–160 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Mitscherlich, E. Ann. Chim. Phys. 19, 350–419 (1822).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Bernstein, J. Polymorphism in Molecular Crystals (Oxford Univ. Press, 2002).

    Google Scholar 

  7. ten Wolde, P. R. & Frenkel, D. Science 277, 1975–1978 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Simon J. L. Billinge is in the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, USA and the Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA. sb2896@columbia.edu,

    Simon J. L. Billinge

Authors
  1. Simon J. L. Billinge
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Billinge, S. How do your crystals grow?. Nature Phys 5, 13–14 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1172

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1172

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing