Dysprosium titanate ( Dy₂ Ti₂ O₇) is an

inorganic compound In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemist ...

, a

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

of the

titanate In chemistry, titanate usually refers to inorganic compounds composed of titanium oxides. Together with niobate, titanate salts form the Perovskite group. In some cases, the term is used more generally for any titanium-containing anion, e.g. i ...

family, with

pyrochlore Pyrochlore () is a mineral group of the niobium end member of the pyrochlore supergroup. The general formula, (where A and B are metals), represent a family of phases isostructural to the mineral pyrochlore. Pyrochlores are an important class of ...

structure. Dysprosium titanate, like holmium titanate and holmium stannate, is a

spin ice A spin ice is a magnetic substance that does not have a single minimal-energy state. It has magnetic moments (i.e. "spin") as elementary degrees of freedom which are subject to frustrated interactions. By their nature, these interactions preven ...

material. In 2009,

quasiparticle In physics, quasiparticles and collective excitations are closely related emergent phenomena arising when a microscopically complicated system such as a solid behaves as if it contained different weakly interacting particles in vacuum. For exam ...

s resembling

magnetic monopoles In particle physics, a magnetic monopole is a hypothetical elementary particle that is an isolated magnet with only one magnetic pole (a north pole without a south pole or vice versa). A magnetic monopole would have a net north or south "magneti ...

were observed at low temperature and high magnetic field. Dysprosium titanate ( Dy₂ Ti O₅) is used since 1995 as material for

control rod Control rods are used in nuclear reactors to control the rate of fission of the nuclear fuel – uranium or plutonium. Their compositions include chemical elements such as boron, cadmium, silver, hafnium, or indium, that are capable of absorbing ...

s of commercial

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...

References

Dysprosium compounds Titanates Ceramic materials Neutron poisons {{inorganic-compound-stub