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Traveling Solvent Floating Zone (TSFZ) Method in Crystal Growth

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A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Inorganic Crystalline Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2016) | Viewed by 39320

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ekaterina Pomjakushina

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Laboratory for Multiscale Materials Experiments, Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
Interests: solid state chemistry; crysatl growth; novel materials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Artificially grown single crystals are very important materials in many applications, and also for research purposes. The Traveling Solvent Floating Zone (TSFZ) Method is a complementary method to other well-known crystal growth techniques, such as Verneuil, Bridgman, Czochralski and direct crystallization from melt/flux. The method is, nowadays, used in combination with optical furnaces in which focused light is used to create narrow zone of the melted material. This technique allows growing big (cm³ –size) single crystals of a wide variety of congruent and incongruent melting complex oxides and non-oxide materials. The method is crucible free, ensuring no contamination by a crucible material. Different gas atmospheres (reducing, oxidizing), elevated pressures, or vacuum can be applied during the growth. Depending on the type of the light source used, one can grow materials with melting point up to 3000 °C. In the last few decades, this method has become very popular in the crystal growth community since the equipment for TSFZ is commercially available and relatively inexpensive. It is a great tool for researchers looking for novel materials with unique magnetic, electrical, and optical properties.

The Special Issue on “Traveling Solvent Floating Zone (TSFZ) Method in Crystal Growth” is aiming to present recent advances in this field. We encourage research contributions that cover a broad range of technical and instrumental aspects of Traveling Solvent Floating Zone Method, as well as reports on the crystal growth and crystal characterization of different classes of new materials.

Dr. Ekaterina Pomjakushina
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Crystals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

crystal growth
zone melting
floating zone crystallization
incongruently melting materials

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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9330 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influence of Phase Transformations on Crystal Growth of Stoichiometric Brownmillerite Oxides: Sr₂ScGaO₅ and Ca₂Fe₂O₅

by Monica Ceretti, Serena Corallini and Werner Paulus

Crystals 2016, 6(11), 146; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst6110146 - 12 Nov 2016

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 7163

Abstract

High quality stoichiometric brownmillerite-type oxide single crystals have been successfully grown by the floating zone method using a mirror furnace. We report here on the growth conditions and structural characterization of two model compounds: Ca₂Fe₂O₅ and Sr₂ScGaO₅. Both show oxygen deficiency with respect to the average perovskite structure, and are promising candidates for oxygen ion conductivity at moderate temperatures. While Sr₂ScGaO₅ single crystals were obtained in the cubic oxygen-deficient perovskite structure, Ca₂Fe₂O₅ crystallizes in the brownmillerite framework. Having no cubic parent high temperature counterpart, Ca₂Fe₂O₅ crystals were found to be not twinned. We report on structural characterization of the as-grown single crystals by neutron and X-ray diffraction, as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with EDX (Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy) analysis and isotope exchange experiments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traveling Solvent Floating Zone (TSFZ) Method in Crystal Growth)

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Figure 1

7470 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Facet Appearance on the Lateral Face of Sapphire Single-Crystal Fibers during LHPG Growth

by Liudmila D. Iskhakova, Vitalii V. Kashin, Sergey V. Lavrishchev, Sergey Ya. Rusanov, Vladimir F. Seregin and Vladimir B. Tsvetkov

Crystals 2016, 6(9), 101; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst6090101 - 25 Aug 2016

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 7138

Abstract

Results of the study of the lateral surface of single-crystal (SC) sapphire fibers grown along crystallographic directions

[0001]

and

[11 \bar{2} 0]

by the LHPG method are presented. The appearance or absence of faceting of the lateral surface [...] Read more.

Results of the study of the lateral surface of single-crystal (SC) sapphire fibers grown along crystallographic directions

[0001]

and

[11 \bar{2} 0]

by the LHPG method are presented. The appearance or absence of faceting of the lateral surface of the fibers depending on the growth direction is analyzed. The crystallographic orientation of the facets is investigated. The microstructure of the samples is investigated with the help of an optical microscope and a JSM-5910LV scanning electronic microscope (JEOL). The crystallographic orientations of the facets on the SC sapphire fiber surface are determined by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The seed orientation is studied by means of XRD techniques. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traveling Solvent Floating Zone (TSFZ) Method in Crystal Growth)

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Graphical abstract

1478 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Single Crystal Growth of Pure Co³⁺ Oxidation State Material LaSrCoO₄

by Hanjie Guo, Zhiwei Hu, Tun-Wen Pi, Liu Hao Tjeng and Alexander Christoph Komarek

Crystals 2016, 6(8), 98; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst6080098 - 18 Aug 2016

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 6282

Abstract

We report on the single crystal growth of the single-layer perovskite cobaltate LaSrCoO₄ that was grown by the optical floating zone method using high oxygen pressures. Phase purity and single crystallinity were confirmed by X-ray diffraction techniques. The pure Co³⁺ oxidation state was confirmed by X-ray absorbtion spectroscopy measurements. A transition to a spin glass state is observed at ∼7 K in magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traveling Solvent Floating Zone (TSFZ) Method in Crystal Growth)

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Graphical abstract

Review

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13458 KiB

Open AccessReview

Zirconate Pyrochlore Frustrated Magnets: Crystal Growth by the Floating Zone Technique

by Monica Ciomaga Hatnean, Claudia Decorse, Martin R. Lees, Oleg A. Petrenko and Geetha Balakrishnan

Crystals 2016, 6(7), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst6070079 - 11 Jul 2016

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 7262

Abstract

This article reviews recent achievements on the crystal growth of a new series of pyrochlore oxides—lanthanide zirconates, which are frustrated magnets with exotic magnetic properties. Oxides of the type

A_{2}

B_{2}

_{7}

(where

A =

Rare Earth,

B =

Ti, [...] Read more.

A_{2}

B_{2}

_{7}

(where

A =

Rare Earth,

B =

Ti, Mo) have been successfully synthesised in single crystal form using the floating zone method. The main difficulty of employing this technique for the growth of rare earth zirconium oxides

A_{2}

_{2}

_{7}

arises from the high melting point of these materials. This drawback has been recently overcome by the use of a high power Xenon arc lamp furnace for the growth of single crystals of Pr

_{2}

_{2}

_{7}

. Subsequently, large, high quality single crystals of several members of the zirconate family of pyrochlore oxides

A_{2}

_{2}

_{7}

(with

A =

La → Gd) have been grown by the floating zone technique. In this work, the authors give an overview of the crystal growth of lanthanide zirconates. The optimum conditions used for the floating zone growth of

A_{2}

_{2}

_{7}

crystals are reported. The characterisation of the crystal boules and their crystal quality is also presented. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traveling Solvent Floating Zone (TSFZ) Method in Crystal Growth)

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Graphical abstract

3127 KiB

Open AccessReview

Floating Zone Growth of Bi₂Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O_y Superconductor

by Andrey Maljuk and C. T. Lin

Crystals 2016, 6(5), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst6050062 - 20 May 2016

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 8851

Abstract

The crystal growth of high-temperature oxide superconductors has been hampered by the complexities of these materials and the lack of knowledge of corresponding phase diagrams. The most common crystal growth technique adopted for these materials is the so-called “Flux” method. This method, however, suffers from several drawbacks: (i) crystals are often crucible and flux contaminated; (ii) crystals are difficult to detach from solidified melt; and (iii) crystals are rather small. In most cases, these drawbacks can be overcome by the crucible-free floating zone method. Moreover, this technique is suitable for crystal growth of incongruently melting compounds, and has been thus successfully used to make large single crystals of Bi₂Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O_y superconductor. In this review, the authors summarize the published and their own growth efforts as well as detailed characterization of as-grown and post-growth annealed samples. The optimal growth conditions that allowed one to obtain the large-size, almost single phase and homogeneous in composition Bi₂Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O_y single crystals are presented. The effect of long lasting post-growth heat treatment on both crystal quality and superconducting properties has also been demonstrated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Traveling Solvent Floating Zone (TSFZ) Method in Crystal Growth)

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