Optical Floating Zone Growth of β-BaB₂O₄ from a LiBa₂B₅O₁₀-Based Solvent

Abstract

Low-temperature barium metaborate β-BaB2O4 has been grown using a LiBa2B5O10-based solvent in a four-mirror optical floating zone furnace with a traveling solvent zone configuration. The β-BaB2O4 rods grown are composed of several different crystal domains, ranging from 100 μm to 1 mm in diameter, and lithium, a component of the flux, was present only at the contaminant level. The technique demonstrates that thermal decomposition of the incongruently melting phase LiBa2B5O10 can be used to grow β-BaB2O4.