Title

Synthesis, growth and assessment of mixed niobate-borate (XYB2O6) compounds

Authors

Authors

J. F. H. Nicholls; B. Henderson; H. G. Gallagher;B. H. T. Chai

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

J. Cryst. Growth

Keywords

KNbB2O6; RbNb2O6; non-linear optical crystals; spontaneous nucleation; top seeded solution growth; OPTICAL-PROPERTIES; RBNBB2O6; CRYSTALS; Crystallography; Materials Science, Multidisciplinary; Physics, Applied

Abstract

Consideration of the ternary phase relationships between components of the XYB2O6 berates, where X = Na, K, Rb, or Cs and Y = No or Ta, suggest that the conditions for their optimal single-crystal growth can be determined from predicted pseudo-binary phase diagrams. Several compounds have been synthesised on the basis of the predicted Nb2O5: Rb(K)(2)B4O7 pseudo-binary systems and single crystals of KNbB2O6 (KNB) and RbNbB2O6 (RNB) grown for the first time by spontaneous nucleation from their self-fluxes. Larger crystals of RNB were grown and these also had a better optical quality. Small crystals of alkali-substituted KNB (Cs0.3K0.7NB) and RNB (Na0.07Rb0.93NB and K0.44Rb0.56NB) were also grown by spontaneous nucleation to provide additional information on the structure-property relationships of the XYB2O6 compounds. Single crystals of both KNB and RNB measuring similar to 20 x 10 x 10 mm(3) were grown by top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) using the same melt compositions as used in spontaneous nucleation. These crystals contained large densities of bubbles and solvent inclusions. However, small (5 x 5 x 3 mm(3)) defect-free samples could be cleaved from these crystals. Even larger single crystals ( similar to 38 x 33 x 6 cm(3)) of RNB were grown by TSSG from an Rb2MoO4 flux and these were free of inclusions. The potential of these single crystals for application in nonlinear optical devices was assessed by X-ray diffraction, optical absorption, laser damage threshold and efficiency of second harmonic generation at 532 nm. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Journal Title

Journal of Crystal Growth

Volume

220

Issue/Number

3

Publication Date

1-1-2000

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

263

Last Page

274

WOS Identifier

WOS:000165699500013

ISSN

0022-0248

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