synchrotron

Then, the team performed X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a DOE Office of Science user facility at DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory, specifically working at the Beamline for Materials Measurement, which is funded and operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

"The key turned out to be structural instabilities that result in certain atoms, in this case the Ti atoms, to displace away from more symmetric positions in a disordered manner. Small anisotropic displacements showed up in high-resolution synchrotron experiments, then we knew to look closer at the atomic structure using an electron microscope."

This interdisciplinary collaboration allowed for the integration of expertise from multiple research groups, including ultrafast optical spectroscopy, quantum chemical modelling, synchrotron X-ray scattering and solar cell device manufacturing.

The synchrotron two-dimensional X-ray diffraction measurements confirmed that the synthesized diamond film has a very high purity of the diamond phase.

Gopalan credited the multidisciplinary team's combined expertise in material growth, synthesis, structure analysis and synchrotron beamline operation with the new understanding.