How to Grow BIG Crystals at Home FAST!!!

[@thethoughtemporium]

Great build! I've always wanted to grow big KDP crystals to use in lasers. I tried some janky setups, but it's nice to see it done properly!

[@sulefur]

Another potential project added to notes?

[@LesLaboratory]

@@thethoughtemporium Thanks! It's been a real interesting journey!

[@AGI-Bingo]

Two amazing people right here! Colab let's go!!! ❤

[@mezaomar]

This two guys sharing ideas would be so nice XD

[@JOUST-2]

FYI, one Arduino nano would've been just fine for all of those functions. Both the turning and temperature monitoring/actuating are "slow" processes and could've been able to wait a couple microseconds without a hitch ;) Source : I am an Electronics Technician + EE :)

[@htomerif]

Yeah, one atmega328p would do all of these jobs. Just use interrupt vectors. Everyone writes code for mirocontrollers with just a main loop that does everything. If you use interrupts and timers, you don't need a main loop at all. Also, I don't know if any other microcontroller has this feature but the TI MSP430 series has an ADC that runs automatically with a pin mask and DMA, so you just start the ADC and from then on you have the current ADC in a block of memory without any extra code.

[@JOUST-2]

@@htomerif That is quite neat indeed about the MSP430! I was thinking about something like that as I was writing the comment too.. but I figured that it probably wouldn't have been much of a problem without it since the pwm's latched on/off state is basically waiting time and the transitions are the critical part (+timer used, obvs). Thanks for the information on the TI mcu though ;) I will definitely look that up

[@CharlesWilliams-zy9nc]

How to paint large metal flake

[@chenlin5375]

@@htomerif A lot of them do. As far as I know, STM32F103, CH32V003 (and almost the entire CH32V series) or CW32L031 all have DMA and ADC that can run in continous mode. Also I think DMA may not be necessary, one can simply configure the ADC to run in continous mode and enable EOC interrupt, then read the ADC value in the interrupt handler and write the value to a variable. That should be able to be pulled off by most Arm-based microcontrollers even without DMA controllers, like PY32F002A.

[@vadimbich4602]

rp2040 costs like $3 and actually has 2 cores/threads running at 133MHz. It also has 2 bit more resolution on ADC than nano. But yes, a single arduino with simple polling in a loop is probably enough at the rates of control needed here. On the other hand, 2 arduinos are not much anyway and it arguably makes coding simpler. In any case it is a brilliant piece of equipment!

[@1kreature]

Food grade Monopotassium Phosphate can (ond usually do) contain anti caking agents such as potato or corn starch. Aquarium grade obviously avoids this as nobody wants a milky fishtank...

[@LesLaboratory]

That figures! The food grade I bought was allegedly pure, but not even repeated filtering could shift whatever it was.

[@theodorekorehonen]

Starches are quite a pain to remove from aqueous solutions!

[@EgonSorensen]

@@theodorekorehonen When in doubt, boil it out - I have NO idea if it works, but starches stiffen at certain temps :ø)

[@jafinch78]

@@EgonSorensen The starch materials chemistry and related characteristics seems like a branch of science in itself. Reminds me of the broad range of cellulose materials.

[@Mind_Idiot]

"milky fishtank" sounds like an especially gross sex move

[@BreakingTaps]

This is really awesome! I built a hacky version of this a year or so ago, and it made.... eh not great crystals. Did a bunch of reading what it would take to build a proper crystallizer and looked like a ton of work, moved on. Super cool to see one actually built and the results are just astounding. Great work!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Coming from you that's awesome! Yeah it can be somewhat involved so I tried to distil this down to the bare minimum. With continuous filtration, and more precise control, this could be even more epic!

[@grant-is]

The information density of this video is astounding. Best yet. You're a Legend, Les.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks very much!

[@RobertLBarnard]

I have no need for crystals. But I find your research, design, execution, thorough & concise presentation very inspiring... even compelling.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@Brandon-rc9vp]

Your content just keeps getting better and better, way to go Les!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@dorjedriftwood2731]

@@LesLaboratorytoo bad nobody will mention the lack of acid has nothing to do with the British population and is purely a matter of immigration.

[@GreenCaulerpa]

@@LesLaboratoryI have seen a strategy in growing water soluble crystals in which a larger column of a saturated solution is used. The bottom part of the solution contains an excess of salt and said solution is heated from the bottom. Due to the higher solubility and temperature gradient, the salts will continuously dissolve from the bottom and deposit on the seed crystal. That would, in theory, eliminate the risk of the solution crashing out as it’s barely oversaturated at the top and the rate of growth is almost solely dependent on the temperature gradient across the column

[@thomasjearson3193]

it does, he should make a business out of this.

[@KallePihlajasaari]

@@GreenCaulerpa This is how quartz crystals are grown at high temperature and irritatingly high pressure in a caustic solution.

[@savagesarethebest7251]

This is so cool, didn't really feel like I wanted to watch a 35 minute video right now but I was glued to the screen the whole time.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! And thanks for staying the course. A half hour vid is always a risk!

[@michaelvarney.]

As a laser scientist on NIF I really enjoyed this video. =)

[@LesLaboratory]

Fantastic! Your job must be a dream!

[@cxn8]

Incredible. Projects like these are why this is one of the best channels on KZbin.

[@LesLaboratory]

Awesome thanks! :-)

[@paulroberto2286]

Woah! Awesome results! Mid-way though the video, I thought "A timelapse of the growth would be cool", You definitely delivered on that! :)

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! :-)

[@test74088]

@@LesLaboratory If you don't mind sharing, I'm curious how you did the time lapse? Did you set up some sort of trigger during the existing rotation direction change or did you have to add a full stop, then take a picture? The platform position was impressively precise between frames! Also, it looks like the temperature probe is metallic, is it coated? Regardless it didn't seem to interfere with getting great results!

[@KCM25NJL]

Undeniably cool if nothing else. The attention to detail and the monumental effort really has paid off, those are some beautiful crystals!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! It has been a frustrating/fun build, but the payoff is epic!

[@seeigecannon]

Fantastic video. I am actually trying to make large crystals myself by basically using the CZ method for growing silica ingots. I just started this last weekend, so no success yet as I needed to buy some more things for my setup. Suggestion: you might be able to get rid of the visible seed crystal by ramping the temperature back up after the setup is installed in the crystal liquor. Hold it at the elevated temperature until you see the seed starting to shrink. I helped set up some crystallization processes at work. Something I did is instead of running a bunch of discrete points I instead just set things up with a cubic-cooling curve formula. The nice thing about this is instead of running a bunch of numbers for various points I just type in the starting temperature, ending temperature, and how long I want it to take to get there. The other nice thing, though I really don't know how big of a difference it makes, is the temperature set points change very gradually instead of having the knees at the setpoints.

[@joecrisp9060]

Wow, I don't know which is more beautiful, the Crystals or your elegant setup. From a layman's point of view, it seems like taylored crystalization could be an area with a lot of breakthroughs in the near future. Perovskites, thermoelectrics, piezoelectrics, even fusion applications are looking at advances via crystalization theory. Amazing video, looking forward to whatever you do next.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Yep, I have interesting things planned for these!

[@christineg8151]

This is incredible! I am an organic chemist, so recrystallization is a common technique, but I've never tried to grow extremely large crystals like this. I love that you can still see the seed crystal at the bottom.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks so much! The whole thing is pretty cool!

[@tannerbobanner9453]

00:34 "It is far from perfect, and really quite small" - many of us can relate

[@LesLaboratory]

Like cats, they are not owned, they are the owners!

[@tonyjohnson8929]

Is that what she said😂😂😮😂

[@gkelly]

Those timelapses are stellar! Really cool build. Those crystals are gorgeous.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! I could not resist!

[@htomerif]

You might want to do a simple recrystallization first to remove any unknown crud from either food grade or aquarium KDP. Also, for chemistry purposes, I've found that deionized water is usually better than distilled water. Ideally it would be both, but its usually one or the other. The stainless steel used in commercial water distilling can leave at least some contamination with metal ions and "deionized" water is usually also carbon filtered, so volatile organics usually get removed as well. Distilled water usually keeps things like acetone, alcohols and acetic acid.

[@LesLaboratory]

I do this anyway. Once a crystal is done, the solution still contains a lot of KDP and it is not cheap, so it gets boiled down and crystallized back out. Thanks for the tips!

[@Arcygenical]

@@LesLaboratory I also recommend freezing your solution if you can't recrystalize it right away. KDP is nutritive and I've had bacteria grow in cultures left out for too long.

[@douro20]

Crystals of ethylenediamine tartrate were used as as a substitute for quartz in crystal filters for multiplexing/demultiplexing of telephone signals up until the development of synthetic quartz. They worked well but had to be packed in an inert atmosphere to prevent them from degrading due to atmospheric moisture.

[@jafinch78]

Interesting, was thinking about mid IR spectroscopy and similar need to desiccate the environment due to the optical lens materials hygroscopic property. Though seems those might be pressed maybe or I might be thinking when prepping the samples and confusing with the lens making.

[@douro20]

@@jafinch78 No, you're not wrong...they used to use sodium chloride lenses for infrared spectroscopy.

[@ferrumignis]

Absolutely amazing results, your crystals are stunning! FWIW even lowly micros like the AVR series in the Arduino have multiple threads if you use interrupts. There is a fork of AccelStepper (iAccelStepper) that can run under interrupt to allow you to do do your slower stuff in the main loop.

[@YSPACElabs]

Yes, and you could probably use a timer to automatically handle the stepper motor driving.

[@LesLaboratory]

Cool! Thanks for the tip, I will look into that!

[@empmachine]

I switched my debug LEDs to RGB a while ago and never looked back. It's pretty handy using colours to define state and you get a smaller form-factor since it's just one LED. But Geeze.. Dude.. This is some AWESOME WORK!! I'm amazingly lazy and I think you've still inspired me to try to make my own! I've grown crystals via evap or electrochem for years and never felt soo inspired to pick it up again (and do it RIGHT!). Thanks for sharing!!

[@benruniko]

Incredible work and great results! You have helped open this door to many who would have no idea where to start

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! I remember the days of the Amateur Scientist and want them back, seems like it's working out!

The result is remarkable. Thanks for the detailed steps.

[@Zenodilodon]

Wow! That is excellent work. I have some KDP here that I want to grow into crystals eventually. This is a little gold mine of information!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! You should totally go for it! and endless supply of non-linear funsies! Hit me up if you want tips!

[@Muonium1]

This is such incredible work. You've basically recreated the old video of Cleveland Crystals growing the enormous NIF D*KDP boules that I first saw 20 years ago and which can still be seen on here (albeit at horrendously low resolution). This is the most satisfying use of my donation $ out of any science channel on here. It's as if the amateur science section of SciAm in the 70s were transported half a century into the future. Very much looking forward to the crystal cutting video. EDIT: Incidentally, Alan Holden, the man who wrote that book, also did a documentary with the PSSC in 1958 called crystals and that too can be seen here.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Yeah I have seen that self same video :-) You are very welcome, I loved the Sci-Am stuff and it is sorely missed. The cutting and polishing will be fun, but I have enough test pieces now to give it a go. Sweet! Thanks for the tip, I will look that one up! Edit: I'm watching it now, turns out you can cleave with a razor blade and a stout whack from a screwdriver!

[@Muonium1]

@LesLaboratory he was indeed a veritable connoisseur of good cleavage. 🤣 The inspiration for Kurt Vonnegut's vaunted "Cat's Cradle" and its famously parasitic "ice nine" plot device, comes directly from a story relayed by Holden about how he solved a problem with a hydrated polymorph of ethylene diamine tartrate crystals disrupting their normal production during WWII for use as frequency filters. Interestingly, the problem repeated itself with a polymorph of the anti-HIV drug ritonavir in the late 90s ruining production until the cause could be found and circumvented.

[@robertorgan6037]

Beautifully detailed! Remarkable results!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! :-)

[@MrJimmyjammmy]

Amazing work Les, can’t wait to see what you do with these crystals

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Its gonna be good!

[@simonstergaard]

yeah, this is truly amazin dedication.

[@user255]

Great work! You really didn't need two Arduinos for this. - replace runToPosition with non blocking alternatives; example "moveTo" and "run". - remove delays from the motor control loop and do the temperature control loop there instead - finally calculate taken time and delay what was left from the 4000 ms. So that you get the wanted delay. However, that surely made the code simpler.

[@LesLaboratory]

You are right, I had also considered other uC's as well, but Arduinos are almost being given away, cheap enough to go nuts! Separating code is an added bonus, I am a big fan of modularity, but I also like the suggested approach.

[@user255]

@@LesLaboratory My way is to plan / tune everything so perfect that I never get to finish anything. So... just wanted to tell about the options.

[@vadimbich4602]

@@LesLaboratory It works so you're not wrong in choosing what you have on hand to do the job! There's always more optimal solution (not a chemical one) but you will not save much with those, unless you need to scale massively. As for custom lab equipment, this is brilliant engineering! I liked that you used a half-rack network cabinet as a case (I have a similar model from a UK manufacturer, I suspect it is the same one as yours, but I use it for networking stuff), it looks a very professionally-built machine in your lab.

[@toxomanrod]

Absolutely incredible work! I never dug nearly as deep as you but was always SO curious about this after watching the only available video on YT about the National Ignition Facility doing this on a massive scale. Truly impressed by your work, thank you so much for sharing!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! You are most welcome!

[@DucktorThallium]

This was phenomenal! I spent a good portion of my PhD trying to engineer custom crystal growth systems, so I can say with certainty that this was a huge effort that really paid off! I can't wait to see what projects you do with these, and a part of me wonders if this kind of system could be modified for other nonlinear crystals like BBO, KTP, or AgGaS2, although those will likely be much more technically challenging.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Yes it has been a fun build for sure! BBO might be possible with this, KTP I think needs to be grown hydrothermally, so I guess a lot of heat and pressure, but I would need to look that one up. AgGaS2 by CZ I think, definitely more technically challenging.

[@tillstensitzki5815]

@@LesLaboratory AgGaS2 got crazy expensive since the war in the ukrain started, so I would be really interested if home growing works.

[@FedericoCPP]

Any clue on how hard it is to grow fluorite (CaF2)?

[@gsuberland]

Incredible work making this replicable!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@cylosgarage]

Really fantastic stuff Les. I was wondering if youd bring up NIF given the relevance, and I wasn’t surprised to see that a lot of the literature is directly related to that effort. I got to see their homebrew KDP crystal growers during my time at LLNL, basically looks like yours except 3 feet in diameter and 8 feet tall, lol. The crystals are unimaginably large, they almost look fake irl. I look forward to seeing the next cutting and polishing steps. At the lab, they use a single point diamond flycutting machine to do the finishing. That would be a fun one to DIY, but I’m a bit biased :). I’d be happy to try and diamond turn some for you though. I wonder if you could machine a crystal with non-flat faces, such that it provides both SHG but also optical power. That would be sick.

[@great__success]

I'm always mesmerized when I see comments below a video of a very unique youtuber by another very unique youtuber ;)

[@LesLaboratory]

That sounds way cool! Ah, I have read that paper on diamond fly cutting, I'm not sure how doable that is on a budget (though I see you have something on your channel, so subbed!), but you never know! I was thinking of sawing them, and polishing them by hand in the same way amateurs used to make telescope mirrors. I can't imagine they will end up a 1/4 wave flat, but there are ways to cheat a little! Hmm interesting, sure if you want to have a crack at it, why not!

[@VEC7ORlt]

@@cylosgarage diamond cutting DIY hoo boy, you don't want to open THAT can of worms, only the spindle for that would be an enormous undertaking...

[@cylosgarage]

@@VEC7ORlt lol, that can has been open for a hot minute...

[@KallePihlajasaari]

Do you know if there are effects that are related to the angle of the crystal planes? This might complicate no planar designs but your idea would possibly allow reduction of optical components and making a smaller final assembly.

[@Digit-Did-It]

Yo. This is awesome. What incredible work and perseverance.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@fearfulinvegas]

Just stunning work Les and your capacity and willingness to explain how each process is worked through is quite rare and very impressive. No wonder you have an enthusiastic audience.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! The audiences enthusiasm and capacity for encouragement is really spurring me on ;-)

[@russedmonds227]

Absolutely fantastic work! and great video explaining it. Love the time lapse showing the crystal growth!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@3amali1]

Just WOW!! The details of the work and that time-lapse at the end is just fantastic. Thank you for sharing such great work

[@LesLaboratory]

@@3amali1 Thanks! So glad people like this stuff!

[@DM-kv2rl]

I came because i read "at home" somewhere ... then i realized that you can do it at home with your personnal lab and a chemistry and electronic PHD . anyway its a good informative video...

[@Fairly-Gmatic]

So incredibly cool. Well done and thanks for open-sourcing!

[@rob-muntron]

Wow! Amazing build quality on the equipment as always, but amazing build quality of crystals too in this case! I bought some KDP a while back after watching one of your videos on the subject. I was lamenting not having played with it yet, but now I'm glad I hadn't got round to it yet, given the wealth of info in this video! If you scale up, you can probably get a temperature stability improvement by insulating the whole box using thick polystyrene foam or fiberglass insulation. External temperature fluctuations probably account for most of the correction the controller needs to do, so if you slow down the rate of heat transfer in/out of the rack box, it's job should be easier. Also, FWIW, when using those Dallas temperature sensors (at least with the library I was using), I found that time averaging could significantly improve precision and noise (but not absolute accuracy).

[@James-ri3fd]

Dude you explain this so well I love it. More people deserve to see your videos.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@MGoat76]

Wow, Les. You always impress. Great build and results! Can’t wait to see them polished and used!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Oh this will be fun for sure!

[@msxcytb]

Fantastic project and documentation! Thanks!

[@SchrauberAusSteinen]

Your Level of Details and the love you put in is remarkable. Nice done

[@LesLaboratory]

Thank you so much 😀

[@KonstantinDeak]

Amazing work! Very intriguing and well executed.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@jensdecker8864]

Really increadible! Thank you so much for sharing that with us!

[@mikevegeto1101]

Fantastic work and video! I'm going to try building this myself - very excited!

[@spooneythebadger]

Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Well done sir, well done.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@TheTablet314]

Very impressive! I do look forward what cool optics you will do with them!

[@Hellawacked]

Just a heads up hand lapping glassware is very simple. Worth checking out. You can do things like match fittings etc.

[@LesLaboratory]

Nice, I never considered that!

[@mixolydian2010]

Amazing les. What an achievement. Well done. Thanks so much for the files.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@tfrr8089]

I know you probably have a reason to mount 2 arduinos. But you can do both motor and Temperatur controlling in one arduino. I would recommend to Look into scheduling for Microcontrollers.

[@Robertwclarke]

Mate! That is just amazing! I really admire your persistence and patience with these projects. Thank you so much for spending the time to document and share. It is truly inspiring,

[@LesLaboratory]

Thank you very much, I'm glad people like this stuff!

[@lasersbee]

Very Interesting... Makes some nice optically clear Crystals

[@LesLaboratory]

@@lasersbee thanks! They are perfect, just need to cut and polish them now!

[@KallePihlajasaari]

Daer Les, I am impressed and envious. I wish you further success. I had one potential thought on logging that might lead to a future improvements in control. Shine a simple laser horizontally through the beaker through a small chord to impinge on a chequered screen with a camera observing. You may find it possible to track the refractive index as a reasonable proxy for the density and saturation of your solution. After monitoring this information for a few grow cycles you might find that you can set the temperature gradient by maintaining what you take to be a suitably supersaturated solution at the same point irrespective of the surface area. It might allow for faster growth with safe conditions.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! That's a really interesting idea. it might be possible to measure the crystal as it grows as well.

[@KallePihlajasaari]

@@LesLaboratory For the growth of the crystal you could try to accurately measure the weight of the build platform have the platform resting in a forked hollow drive member and then the motor is stopped you lift it from the drive fork with a servo using a load cell to determine the mass increase. This would be a alternate way to control the temperature profile. Make sure the growth RATE is monotonic and positive at all times and you will be able to make sure the solution never becomes undersaturated. Again after characterising the system you may be able to determine what the rate of increase in mass can be for a given mass when you calculate the square area divided by the volumetric growth relation. There was a suggestion by someone to use a stock 3Dprinter to manage this. It could be possible to modify firmware or profiles to achieve much of it. Select a printer with chamber and bed heating. Slave both temperatures together. Then my suggestion was to have the platform on the print head and make small circular movements of the head instead of rotational movements. This would allow for using the printer with no real modification. Growing material for CO2 laser lenses would be a useful DIY/hobby/ghetto/post-apocalyptic industrial skill to develop. I am not sure if options exist. Grinding 50mm focal length lenses for 10'000nm wavelength should be possible to automate as the optical requirements are less critical than UV lenses.

[@AdamosDad]

Even the failures were nice to look at. Looking forward to seeing the cut and polish video.

[@LesLaboratory]

Yep, though I better include those, expectation should match reality! They are not hard failures to be honest, I bet even the worst can be cut and polished into useful components.

[@AdamosDad]

@@LesLaboratory I'm glad that you see the good in the objects that you made, even though not perfect.

[@ScientificGlassblowing]

This is awesome! I have grown Alum crystals for years. Typically, I hang them by a thread in a beaker. Your reactor design is great!

[@LesLaboratory]

I would be real interested to hear how well it works with Alum. Being a hydrated salt, I expect it might be spectacularly fast!

[@TheZombieSaints]

Wow! Phenomenonal crystal growing mate! 👏 👏 👏 That's the best "home grown" crystal I've ever seen! I'm subbing to see the follow ups on these. Again, excellent work mate 👍

[@LesLaboratory]

Spectacular, im glad you like it!

[@michaelmcmemory6532]

Fantastic results! And looking forward to your use of these!!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! I have cool plans for this stuff!

[@richardward6747]

What a total legend! So.. so much crud on this plat but then there comes a REAL gem like this video! Very well done that man.

[@LesLaboratory]

Spectacular thanks!

[@christopherleubner6633]

Was just going to say that. We used to grow them in vats on a turntable to make giant ones for use in the Shiva and Nova laser systems that are used for ICF. The crystals were huge as well, used for both a EO circulator and for harmonic generation. The crystals were giant and clear, by giant 28 inches on a side for ones designed to be cur into the EO plates. Also the special thermometers can be salvaged from accustat thermostats. ❤

[@LesLaboratory]

Nice! I would love to see a crystal that size!

[@Deathunter2]

Gowring crystals in university for like 8 years now, this video is fantastic. Thanks alot!

[@LesLaboratory]

You are welcome!

[@lordofelectrons4513]

Truly amazing work. I notice the seed is visible I would not have expected this.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Yeah, the 'ghost' seed is odd. It's caused by dislocations when the surface regenerates.

[@BalticLab]

You're back, finally! Great stuff, as always. 🥳

[@LesLaboratory]

Never left :-) Was a bit ill for a while, this should have been released around thanksgiving but hey ho, its out in time for Christmas :-)

[@theodorekorehonen]

Holy cow man! I've never had a need to grow optical grade crystals for anything but watching this, the obvious amount of design, research, and persistence really shows that you're a clever fella!

[@theodorekorehonen]

And you've earned a new subscriber because even if this is outside my field of knowledge and general interest, it's really neat to see a dedicated hobbyist reproduce results of professionals with a much tighter budget. I love that shit!

[@LesLaboratory]

Awesome thanks for your sub! There is plenty of cool budget stuff on this channel!

[@nielsvanderriet8779]

Bedankt

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@alllove1754]

You are a legend, Les! ❤❤ This was so awesome and gives a whole new look at growing crystals. I've had interest in PPLN for some time so being able to make this, even if with some fancy tools but at home, has its real advantages, especially financially! Thank you❤❤❤

[@LesLaboratory]

You are so welcome! It has been a great little project, and opens up other ways of doing things!

[@alllove1754]

@LesLaboratory yes it does open up possibilities! I've wanted to tinker around with frequency modulation, using several masers of different frequencies, though cost is really out of my range. The crystal, the way you wrote the title, I'm thinking "grow crystals at home"-type stuff, and your crystal had remarkable clarity and unique shape so I clicked and all of those dreams to "play" with lasers and masers came back.

[@jakobriedel3725]

Danke!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks for your support!

[@JacobProbasco]

Would love to see what you could accomplish with cold plasma as a treatment regime.

[@andymouse]

Jeez, I am lost for words. Seriously this is next level youtube content and I can not wait for more. Have a great Christmas and a good rest....cheers!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! It is pretty neat :-) A merry Christmas to you as well! :-)

[@andymouse]

@@LesLaboratory :)

[@chemistryscience4320]

O MY F**ING UNIVERSE !! That crystal is absolutely beautiful !! This video literally made me laugh in joy when i saw the Final Product. Austanding. As an almost-Chemist and also engineering enthusiast. I take my hat of for you. That's AMAZING work, wonderful effort put in practice and very methodical. Worthy of a true science paper. You are AWESOMELES :D !! i mean ... Awesome Les haha (^_^)

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! It's really amazing to see it do its thing, and yeah with stuff like this methodology is key. I think if there are graphs we can safely call it science ;-)

[@jafinch78]

The case reminded me of a dry cabinet we used in the labs as a dehumidification, sort of desiccant, cabinet. However, I did not know there were the smaller form server cabinets that are a way better price. Excellent video in general and thanks for sharing! Looking forward to more optical and other awesomeness with custom made parts.

[@LesLaboratory]

It made a really neat project case, and really looks the part. If it had been white or blue , it might have looked like a real piece of lab equipment! Thanks!

[@arthurabraham3271]

Amazing! the amount of work you have put really shows

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@lukebowers536]

what a fantastic science project, thank you for uploading this one, ive wanted to grow some NLO crystals for a while now & had a bodged go last year which yielded terrible results, even tho to the untrained eye the huge crystals i had looked quite stunning. I have a lot of time on my hands these days since early retirement has been forced due to an accident, so i think ime going to have a serious plug at your project & see what transpires, thanks for going into such detail with this, all this research in your video would have taken me many months so i am most grateful to you for uploading this project, excellent work. My 3 favorite subjects all in 1, lasers, chemistry & electronics.

[@LesLaboratory]

Fantastic! I'm glad you like it! It's a fun, though quite frustrating little project. Cleanliness is absolutely required with it, but it's truly magical watching it do its thing!

[@KnowArt]

holy moly! this is awesome. would love to see fist size crystals

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! That would be cool. Scaled up to 5 litres, it should do that!

[@nickitoff9629]

Really nice work! Simply a joy to watch your scientific process in action. Thank you for sharing!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

[@RobertSzasz]

I saw an interesting design years ago where a feed tube was set up add supersaturated solution to the growth chamber by heating a testube filled with feed crystals

[@LesLaboratory]

Yeah, I have seen something similar and considered it. There are some interesting methods out there.

[@stoppi]

Great video and experiment with a lot of efforts, thanks for that 👍

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@Reptex_cs]

Oh wow! I did not expect that kind of crystal. Amazing.

[@marekjakimowicz]

Spectacular! Beautiful crystals. Building a giant version will by fun to watch.

[@wickedprotos1937]

I always maintained there can be straight lines in nature :-) And goes against entropy a bit too.

[@Porcupine-t1h]

This channel is gold

[@manyirons]

This is high on my list of retirement projects. You've either saved me a ton of time, or cost me as I am now even more likely to have at it.

[@LesLaboratory]

Its a foregone conclusion I have created a time sink for you! With that all said, it is totally worth it!

[@nonsuch]

Spectacular job! It's amazing to me how Crystals grow. Cheers! 🍻

[@Dan-vq4pz]

Amazing results Les!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@BPphotonics]

How cool is that 😳😳 amazing work and beautiful results. Your videos are the same quality as those perfect crystals 😎

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks so much! :-D

[@MrHichammohsen1]

Magnificent work! Will definitely subscribe! Thank you for this.

[@LesLaboratory]

@@MrHichammohsen1 Thanks!

[@Jonodrew1286]

Excellent mix of chemistry and electronics - the crystals are near flawless - amazing - curious to note if you actually look at a crystal growing you can see like an I ion transport stream ( or density current emanating above the crystal like smoke) I guess that is why the crystal is rotated whilst it grows

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Yes indeed, the stream is hard to see. It's Schlieren from density changes and is actually a useful indicator of whether or not the crystal is in the growing phase or not. The rotation ensures that fresh solution is always present at the crystal faces.

[@3er24t4g1]

Excellent quality content. Thank you for making this

[@joshsickles1163]

Excellent work! I've tried growing KDP crystals in the past and have always had very poor luck. I've tried making special growth chambers and have never had much luck. I will have to re visit this in the future!

[@LesLaboratory]

@@joshsickles1163 Thanks! Don't give up, it's so worth it!

[@removechan10298]

fantastic video! wow - amazing work in researching and reproducing this a real trove of information. I cannot wait to see what you'll be using these for, subscribed 🔔 and 👍

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! I am already in the process of cutting and polishing these for applications I have in mind!

[@Stonie23]

Thank you very much. That was very interesting an entertaining as well. Great project and explanation. The Results are beautiful. I am very impressed.

[@LesLaboratory]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Drjtherrien]

I'm speechless. This is beautiful. I might see about adapting this for KBr.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! That would be very cool!

[@DaveEtchells]

Wow, that’s an *amazing* result, in the truest sense of the word! - And holy cr*p, that’s a crazy amount of experimentation to arrive at the correct cooling profile, not to mention all the other elements of the setup! Interesting about how the amount of supersaturation can get higher without crashing once the crystal reaches a certain size. (Makes sense, more surface area to grab the ions before they can self-nuclear.) Also interesting about the need to “cook” the mother solution to eliminate micro-crystals before the run. I hadn’t heard of that anywhere else on YT before but it makes perfect sense. I don’t need to make any giant KDP crystals anytime soon, but I’ve often thought about growing large “hobby” crystals of various metal sulfates, borates, etc. I’ll bet the techniques of temp control and even just the rotating crystal holder would have similar results, making optically-clear versions of whatever you’re precipitating. Super interesting, and superbly well presented, thanks!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Yes, it was a fair job with plain wrong assumptions made early on, but that's the learning curve. The papers in the description are full of good info on supersaturation. This this system I'm only at 7%, which is in the fast growth area, but with continuous filtration (very complex to implement) insane levels are possible. I can't see a reason why fast growth can't be done with any other salts like Alum, KCl or copper Sulfate etc, it just so happens that the majority of the literature is on KDP because of the need for large optics for the National Ignition facility..

[@Condurafly]

This is absolutely phenomenal! You should definitely already get a honorary doctorate for just that. I mean a few bucks and hundreds of hours? I’m interested in producing my plastic scintillator as the ones which could be bought… but seems hard and more hazardous… and your crystal look way cooler 🤩

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! I'm not sure i would get a doctorate from it though. Growing Scintillators might be interesting.

[@AppliedCryogenics]

Your results are excellent! I'm reminded of the excellent vintage films about crystal-growing from the likes of Bell Labs. Also, there's a fascinating industrial film on Periscope Films about the cutting of natural quartz during WWII for use in military radios.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! I have seen those, and one of their books is reviewed in the video. Bell Labs has done spectacular work over the years!

[@thatoneguy99100]

Bravo Les!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks!

[@henrikstenlund5385]

Good work, Les

[@LesLaboratory]

@@henrikstenlund5385 Thanks!

[@jdpantoja442]

This is very inspirational!, Congratulations!

[@LesLaboratory]

Thank you so much!

[@Convolutedtubules]

Fish aficionados... Well played.

[@sseymour1978]

As as Kid when I wanted to grow Salt crystals I was upset by how many small crystals grow instead of one large. Now I understand why. Looks like a fun project for adult kids.

[@LesLaboratory]

Thanks! Adult kid aptly describes me! 😊