Growth of Optical Crystals by the Micro-Pulling-Down Method

Abstract

The micro-pulling-down technique is a crystal growth method that has been mostly developed since 1992. The general scheme of the growth system is relatively simple: the melt (oxide, fluoride, metal) residing in a crucible is transported in downward through microcapillary channel(s) made in the bottom of the crucible. Two driving forces (capillary action and gravity) support the delivery of the melt to the liquid/solid growth interface formed under the crucible due to a properly established temperature gradient. Appropriate configuration of the crucible bottom allows for controlling of the crystal shape (fibers, rods, tubes, plates) and the dimensions of the crystals' cross sections that range approximately from 0.1 to 10 mm. A great number of scientifically and industrially important optical crystal fibers have been successfully produced using this method.

Crystal growth and scintillation properties of multi-component oxide single crystals: Ce:GGAG and Ce:La-GPS

“…This allows to decrease consumption of time and make the material R&D more cost-effective. Principles and schematic diagrams of both these methods are described in recent reviews [12][13][14]. The position of the floating zone method regarding the material and time consumption, and quality of the crystal produced, is most probably intermediate with respect to the above two methods.…”

Yb-doped Lu3Al5O12 fibers single crystals grown under stationary stable state for laser application

“…Recently, there has been intense interest in fibers single crystal grown by micro-pulling down for a wide variety of domains, especially for laser application [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. As shown in Fig.…”

Crystal growth and characterization of LuAG:Ce:Tb scintillator

“…We followed the standard crystal growth procedure for m-PD growth experiments [9]. The crystals were grown from a |16 mm iridium crucible.…”

“…The m-PD method is known as a fast and economic solution for materials screening [9]. In this work, the m-PD method was used to determine optimal dopant concentrations, whereas the Czochralski technique was used for producing crystal boules of high quality and optimized composition.…”