Growth of large single crystals of Rare Earth Hexaborides

TL;DR

This paper reports on the successful growth of large, high-quality single crystals of various rare earth hexaborides using the floating zone technique with a Xenon arc lamp furnace, including isotopically enriched samples for neutron scattering.

Contribution

It introduces a method for growing large, high-quality rare earth hexaboride crystals, including isotopically enriched variants, using the floating zone technique.

Findings

Large crystals (~1 cc volume) of LaB6, CeB6, PrB6, NdB6 were successfully grown.

Crystals of these compounds were also produced with enriched 11B isotope.

The method enables high-quality crystal growth suitable for neutron scattering experiments.

Abstract

Single crystal growth of several rare earth hexaborides has been carried out by the floating zone technique. A high power Xenon arc lamp image furnace was used for the crystal growth. Large high quality crystals of LaB$_{6}$, CeB$_{6}$, PrB$_{6}$ and NdB$_{6}$, about 1 cc in volume have been obtained. Crystals of all these compounds have also been grown using enriched $^{11}$B isotope for use in neutron scattering experiments.