The Institute of Optical Function Crystalline Materials (hereinafter referred to as the "Institute"), one of the affiliates of the College of Chemistry at Fuzhou University, has grown out of its predecessor, the Optical Material Lab, in 1973. The functional crystalline material has long been a major subject of the Institute, as well as one of the important research interests of Physical Chemistry, a National Key Discipline. In the early years, researches have been conducted on the soft X-ray spectroscopy crystal and the nonlinear optical crystal materials. The crystals of TAP and OHM have been applied in carbon analysis of steel, laser target, and soft X-ray spectroscopic analysis in the nuclear experiment by Baosteel, the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, etc.
Currently, the Institute focuses on the design and application of crystalline materials with specific optical function, looking for the relationship between the structure and properties of crystal materials. In-depth researches have been conducted on theoretical designing, structural analysis and characterization, which include: (1) the growth and application of electro-optical crystals, such as magneto-optical crystal, laser crystal, nonlinear optical crystal, as well as the nano-crystalline material and crystalline film with photo-electric conversion effect; (2) rational design and properties of metal-organic frameworks; (3) enantiomeric control of chiral coordination compounds.
The Institute consists of 9 researchers, of which 4 are professors, together with about 30 graduate students. The researches are financially supported by several national and provincial foundations for natural science research as well as corporate funds for entrusted researches. Cooperation has been established with the research groups from theUnited States,Spain, andSingapore.
