Systematic approach to the growth of high-quality single-crystals of Sr3Ru2O7

TL;DR

This paper presents a systematic method for optimizing the growth of high-quality Sr3Ru2O7 single crystals using an image furnace, focusing on measuring mass loss to predict optimal conditions, resulting in crystals with very low residual resistivity.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, simple procedure for crystal growth optimization based on mass loss measurement, applicable when standard methods are unsuitable due to volatility issues.

Findings

Achieved Sr3Ru2O7 crystals with residual resistivity as low as 0.25 μΩcm

Developed a predictive method for initial atomic ratios based on mass loss

Demonstrated the procedure's usefulness for volatile constituent materials

Abstract

We describe a simple procedure for optimising the growth condition for high quality single crystals of the strontium ruthenate perovskites using an image furnace. The procedure involves carefully measuring the mass lost during crystal growth in order to predict the optimal initial atomic ratio. Using this approach we have succeeded in growing crystals of Sr3Ru2O7 with a residual resistivity as low as 0.25 ??cm. The procedure we describe here is expected to be useful for other systems when a standard travelling-solvent floating-zone (TSFZ) method cannot be used because of high volatility of a constituent material.