Study on buoyancy convection phenomenon in the crystal growth process

Real-time phase shift Mach-Zehnder interference technique, imaging technique, and computer image processing technique were combined to perform a real-time diagnosis of NaClO₃ crystal, which described both the dissolution process and the crystallization process of the NaClO₃ crystal in real-time condition. The dissolution fringes and the growth fringes in the process were obtained. Moreover, a distribution of concentration field in this process was obtained by inversion calculation. Finally, the buoyancy convection phenomenon caused by gravity in the crystal growth process was analyzed. The results showed that this convection phenomenon directly influences the growth rate of each crystal face in the crystal. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10672171 and 10432060) and Knowledge Innovatiou Program of CAS (Phase III)