In Situ Crystallisation Study of a High Néel Temperature Layered Ruthenate

We will follow the formation of a material as it crystallises fron solution by measuring powder neutron diffraction patterns in intervals of time. This will allow us to quantify the kinetics of material as it forms by measuring the amount of material as a function of time. The material we will study is a recently discovered mixed-metal oxide that has unusual magnetic properties where unpaired electrons remain correlated well above room temperature, and in fact as the material crystallises the pairing of electrons should take place. Our in situ experiment will also allows us to make use of the scattering of neutrons by ordered magnetism so we will see how the magnetic ordere emerges and how this is related to the formation of structural order. This is a unique experiment that could yield fundamental new results concerning magnetic materials.