Two experiments on crystallization of Cd0.22Hg0.78Te mixed crystals from the liquid phase were performed on the Salyut 6 Space Laboratory. The rates of growth varied in time from 2 mm/h to 50 mm/h. The properties of the crystals were found to be strongly dependent on the growth rate. For slow rates of crystallization, diffusion-controlled growth took place and homogeneous material was obtained. For rates higher than 3 mm/h spontaneous crystallization began, creating cavities which gave rise to further inhomogeneities in the material. In this paper the crystallization process is described and data on some basic structural and electrical properties of the space-grown crystals are presented together with the results of composition and surface morphology studies. A new effect, the formation of a surface layer about 30 μm thick and differing in composition from the bulk material, was discovered. The electrical properties of the crystal showed no apparent effect of zero-gravity conditions on deviations from stoichiometry.

Recently, the main problems underlying the experimental study of homonuclear particles with sizes between single atoms and the solid state have been solved: the formation of microclusters, their individual detection and the separation of beams with uniform cluster size.For the first time, agglomerates containing between two and several thousand atoms or molecules have been produced.The measured mass distribution spectra yield information about growth mechanisms, crystallography: magic numbers of the clusters and in the Case of double ionisation the critical sizes for Coulombexplosion.

In this paper the X-ray section topograph method was used for determination of damaged layer thickness of silicon crystal surface. For measurements such reflections should be chosen for which the “margine” effect is very sharp. It was used the fact that in the ranges of strong perturbances the approximation of kinematic theory could be applied.

In this paper the defect structure of CdS crystals doped with Cu, Se and Zn atoms has been investigated. There were used two X-ray methods: the oscillating slit and oscillating film methods. CdS crystals were obtained from the melt under pressure of Se and Zn 0.5, 0.75, 1% wt and Cu 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1% wt in relation to CdS crystals. It was proved that high doping damages the structure of CdS crystals and that especially Cu impurity much more disturbs the crystal lattice than Zn one. Se atoms cause rather small deformation of crystal and increase the lattice constant, this being connected with decreasing of energy gap.

In this paper an influence of the defect structure of CdS crystal on the exciton line shift has been investigated. It was proved that the exciton line shift towards higher energies is connected with variations of the lattice constant caused by zinc impurities. CdS crystals after Zn ions implantation do not reveal the exciton line shift and only broadening of these lines occurs due to the strain field existing in crystal lattice.