Growth improvement and characterization of AgGaxIn1−xSe2 chalcopyrite crystals using the horizontal Bridgman technique

Distribution of Neodymium and properties of Nd:YAG crystal by horizontal directional solidification

“…After the temperature field was stabilized, crystallization was started by a slow pulling rate of 0.8 mm/h with high precision program controller [1,2,4]. The crystal quality strongly depends on the hot zone of HDS furnace and the pulling rate [7][8][9]. The total process including installation, heating up, the growth operation and crystal cooling took about two weeks.…”

“…In order to reduce the non-uniformity distribution limitation, considerable potential for the crystal growth of Nd:YAG is offered by horizontal directional solidification (HDS), a standard method for the growth of large crystals of high optical quality and structural perfection [7,8]. A distinguishing feature of the HDS method, as compared with the Cz and TGT methods, is a larger free melt surface of the growing crystal.…”

“…A distinguishing feature of the HDS method, as compared with the Cz and TGT methods, is a larger free melt surface of the growing crystal. The larger free melt surface produces the specific surface-tension-driven convection, which is very favorable for homogeneous doping of melt [7][8][9]. By far, the growth and the concentration gradient of Nd 3 þ ions in YAG crystals grown by the Cz and TGT methods have been researched and reported [4,6], but there are no relevant researches about distribution of Neodymium and properties of Nd:YAG crystal by HDS method to our knowledge.…”

Characterization of large‐sized Nd:YAG single crystals grown by horizontal directional solidification

“…The larger free melt surface reduces dislocation density of crystal. No rotation can eliminate the large cores in crystals, but it may lead to an increase of the concentration gradient for dopant [6][7][8]. The concentration gradient is mainly influenced by the melt flow patterns in the growth process.…”

“…Growth rate and the thermal zone are important factor in crystal growth. The melt flow patterns are mainly determined by the thermal zone but not affected much by the growth rate [6][7][8][9][10]. Therefore, in this paper, the 1 at.% doped Nd:YAG single crystals have been grown by HDS in different thermal zone.…”