Large CaFeAsF single crystals of high quality grown by the oscillating temperature technique

TL;DR

This paper reports a novel oscillating temperature method for growing large, high-quality CaFeAsF single crystals, achieving sizes and quality surpassing previous reports.

Contribution

Introduction of an oscillating temperature technique enabling growth of larger, more homogeneous CaFeAsF single crystals with superior quality.

Findings

Largest CaFeAsF crystal nearly 8 mm in size

FWHM of x-ray rocking curve as small as 0.163°

Crystals are compositionally homogeneous

Abstract

The oscillating temperature technique was successfully employed to grow large and composition homogeneous CaFeAsF single crystals due to the reduction of nuclei number by temperature oscillation. The largest as-grown CaFeAsF single crystal was nearly 8 mm in lateral size and 0.27 mm in thickness which is far larger than previously reported in all dimensions. The full-width-at-half maximum (FWHM) of x-ray rocking curve is as small as 0.163{\deg} indicating the high quality of CaFeAsF single crystals.