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Materials science: China's crystal cache

Nature volume 457, pages 953–955 (2009)Cite this article

A Chinese laboratory is the only source of a valuable crystal. David Cyranoski investigates why it won't share its supplies.

One of Daniel Dessau's prized possessions is a small crystal of potassium beryllium fluoroborate (KBBF). Dessau, a solid-state physicist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, uses the crystal to convert the light of a US$100,000 laser into a deep ultraviolet, a good wavelength for studying the surface of superconductors. But because the laser light gradually degrades the crystal, Dessau has to save it for special projects. "It is a beautiful crystal," he says. "It would really move the field forward — if people could get it."

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Authors
  1. David Cyranoski
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David Cyranoski is Nature's Asia–Pacific correspondent.

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Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry

Chuangtian Chen laboratory

Institute of Physics

University of Tokyo, Institute for Solid State Physics

Shik Shin laboratory

Castech

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Cyranoski, D. Materials science: China's crystal cache. Nature 457, 953–955 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/457953a

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