水溶液晶体的空间生长及其地基模拟实验

空间水溶液晶体生长是通过搭载人造卫星、宇宙飞船和空间站等飞行器,在微重力条件下从水溶液中进行晶体生长实验.许多透明单晶体,诸如:KDP(磷酸二氢钾,potassium dihydrogen phosphate)、ADP(磷酸二氢铵,ammonium dihydrogen phosphate)、TGS(硫酸三甘氨酸,triglycine sulfae)、沸石和α-碘酸锂(α-LiIO3)等无机非线性光学晶体,尿素等有机非线性光学晶体以及蛋白质等生物晶体,均可采用水溶液法生长.美国、前苏联、西欧和日本等国在从事空间材料科学研究的高科技发展计划中,均把水溶液晶体生长作为一项重要项目.由于水溶液晶体生长方法的研究在地面上已有丰富的基础,而且具有温度低,能耗小,可实现原位实时观察等优点,所以,它是探索空间晶体生长原理和方法、研究晶体生长微重力效应的重要材料制备技术.由于空间晶体生长受搭载条件限制,空间实验的次数与地面相比是十分稀少的,为了获得空间实验的高成功率,在地面上必须建立相应的实验基地,开展深入的地基研究工作.本文将分别从空间实验和地基研究两个方面作系列介绍,包括蛋白质晶体,沸石晶体,α-LiIO3晶体的空间生长以及TGS,NaClO3(sodium chlorate,氯酸钠),Sr(NO3)2(strontium nitrate,硝酸鍶)和Ba(NO3)2(barium nitrate,硝酸钡)等晶体生长过程的原位实时观察,并展望了空间晶体生长的发展前景.

SPACE EXPERIMENTS OF CRYSTAL GROWTH IN AQUEOUS SOLUTION AND ITS GROUND-BASED RESEARCH

The crystal growth using an aqueous solution in space is put into a lower temperature solution under the condition of microgravity by boarding space flyers such as satellites, spaceships and the International Space Station. Many transparent single crystals can be grown from aqueous solutions, including inorganic nonlinear optical crystals, such as potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP),ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP), triglycine sulfate triglycine sulfate (TGS) and α-LiIO3, as well as organic nonlinear optical crystals (urine) and biological crystals (protein). This is an important program in high technology space projects for such countries as the USA, Europe, Russia and Japan. The crystal growth method in aqueous solution has some advantages, such as a rich research foundation, lower temperature, lower power consumption and real-time observation. It is also an important technique for exploring the principles and methods of space crystal growth and for studying microgravity effects. Since space crystal growth is limited by the conditions of the location where the experiment is performed, until now, there have been few space experiments compared with experiments performed on the ground. In order to ensure successful space experiments, experimental bases must be set up on the earth and then they must engage in ground-based research. In this paper, the typical research results are summarized from both space and ground-based experiments, including the crystal growth of protein, zeolites and α-LiIO3, as well as in-situ observation during the growth processes of TGS, NaClO3, Sr(NO3)2 and Ba(NO3)2 crystals. The prospects of space crystal growth are presented too.