Optical floating zone growth of high-quality Cu2MnAl single crystals

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a reproducible method for growing high-quality Cu2MnAl single crystals using optical floating zone under ultra-high vacuum, resulting in improved magnetic properties and potential for neutron polarization applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of optical floating zone growth under ultra-high vacuum for Cu2MnAl, achieving superior crystal quality and magnetic reproducibility.

Findings

High-quality, homogeneous Cu2MnAl single crystals were successfully grown.

Floating zone method yields better magnetic properties than traditional methods.

Sample dimensions limit the polarization efficiency in neutron scattering.

Abstract

We report the growth of large single-crystals of Cu2MnAl, a ferromagnetic Heusler compound suitable for polarizing neutron monochromators, by means of optical floating zone under ultra-high vacuum compatible conditions. Unlike Bridgman or Czochralsky grown Cu2MnAl, our floating zone grown single-crystals show highly reproducible magnetic properties and an excellent crystal quality with a narrow and homogeneous mosaic spread as examined by neutron diffraction. An investigation of the polarizing properties in neutron scattering suggests a high polarization efficiency, limited by the relatively small sample dimensions studied. Our study identifies optical floating zone under ultra-high vacuum compatible conditions as a highly reproducible method to grow high-quality single-crystals of Cu2MnAl.