Imaging and controlling nucleation

The nucleation of a new phase from solution, such as the nucleation of crystals, is of immense importance to industry and fundamental science. We will use imaging and powerful lasers to control the early stages of nucleation in liquids and liquid mixtures, thereby testing modern ideas on non-classical nucleation. Driving these systems very far from equilibrium will allow us to create meta- and unstable states that will give rise to complex phenomena. The subsequent highly non-equilibrium processes will be mapped using microscopy and, in particular, fluorescence microscopy using a range of environmentally sensitive dyes.
We have been developing a novel instrument that will change the study of crystal nucleation and will make the first steps towards control over the polymorph that crystallises. It involves laser-induced nucleation using a powerful femtosecond/picosecond laser, and programmable diffractive optics, resulting in a novel massively parallel nucleation set-up. We will do spectroscopic imaging of liquids, making images and movies, and carry out fancy data analysis to extract information from these.