Growth process of carbyne crystals by synchrotron irradiation Original Research Article

Growth of small carbyne crystals in a thin amorphous carbon film has been observed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The as-deposited film was composed of diamond and graphite crystallites of size 1 nm. Circular α-phase carbyne crystals predominantly grew to 20 nm in size and transformed into (α+β)-phase crystals with an elongated shape of 100 nm in length. The typical correlation during the transformation is (220)α//(301)(α+β). The c-axes of both grown crystals were oblique to the direction of the electron beam. The growth process of carbyne crystals will be discussed in terms of selective excitation of graphite crystallites by an SR beam.