Abstract
Single crystals of Nd:YVO4 grown with the Czochralski technique frequently exhibit light scattering defects that are detrimental to their lasing and optical properties. Defects in the form of low angle grain boundaries have been characterized in what are nominally ‘single crystals’. The misorientation angles of the boundaries were determined to be typically < 1°, which corresponds to formation energies of approximately 1 Jm−2. It was found that dislocations generated during crystal growth and cooling have enough mobility in certain growth directions to form low angle grain boundaries through polygonization. Despite the relatively high energies the boundaries were stable, being immobile at annealing temperatures up to 97% of the melting point (2083 K). Suggestions are made to reduce or eliminate polygonization, including the addition of atoms with a size either much larger or smaller than Y3+.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
J. R. O’CONNOR, Appl. Phys. Lett. 9 (1966) 407.
P. P. YANEY and L. G. DE SHAZER, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 66 (1976) 1405.
A. W. TUCKER, M. BIRNBAUM, C. L. FINCHER and L. G. DE SHAZER, J. Appl. Phys. 47 (1976) 232.
R. A. FIELDS, M. BIRNBAUM and C. L. FINCHER, Appl. Phys. Lett. 51 (1987) 1885.
Y. ZHANG, B. FLUEGAL and A. MASCARENHAS, Phys. Rev. Lett. 91 (2003) 157404.
H. M. DESS and S. R. BOLIN, Trans. TMS-AIME 239 (1967) 359.
T. SHONAI, M. HIGUCHI and K. KODAIRA, Mater. Res. Bull. 35 (2000) 225.
C. GOUTAUDIER, F. S. ERMENEUX, M. T. COHEN-ADAD, R. MONCORGE, M. BETTINELLI, and E. CAVALLI, Mater. Res. Bull. 33 (1998) 1457.
T. KATSUMATA, H. TAKASHIMA, H. OZAWA, K. MATSUURA and Y. NOBE, J. Cryst. Growth 148 (1995) 193.
S. ERDEI, B. M. JIN, F. W. AINGER, B. KESZEI, J. VANDLIK and A. SUVEGES, J. Cryst. Growth 172 (1997) 466.
R. C. ROPP, Mat. Res. Bull. 10 (1975) 271.
T. KATSUMATA, H. TAKASHIMA, T. MICHINO and Y. NOBE, Mat. Res. Bull. 29 (1994) 1247.
L. SANGALETTI, B. ALLIERI, L. E. DEPERO, M. BETTINELLI, K. LEBBOU and R. MONCORGE, J. Cryst. Growth 198/199 (1999) 454.
B. Q. HU, Y. Z. ZHANG, X. WU and X. L. CHEN, J. Cryst. Growth 226 (2001) 511.
D. E. EAKINS, J. B. LEBRET, M. G. NORTON and D. F. BAHR, J. Cryst. Growth 266 (2004) 411.
W.T. READ, in “Dislocations in Crystals” (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1953) p. 155.
X. PENG, A. ASUNDI, Y. CHEN and Z. XIONG, Appl. Opt. 40 (2001) 1396.
H. G. VAN BUEREN, in “Imperfections in Crystals” (North Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1961) p. 443.
L. QIN, X. MENG, J. ZHANG, L. ZHU, H. ZHANG, B. XU and H. JIANG, J. Cryst. Growth 242 (2002) 183.
T. SHONAI, M. HIGUCHI, K. KODAIRA, T. OGAWA, S. WADA and H. MACHIDA, J. Cryst. Growth 241 (2002) 159.
B. COCKAYNE, B. LENT, J. S. ABELL and I. R. HARRIS, J. Mater. Sci. 8 (1973) 871.
B. COCKAYNE, B. LENT, J. S. ABELL and P. M. MARQUIS, J. Mater. Sci. 10 (1975) 1874.
H. KLAPPER and H. KUPPERS, Acta Cryst. A 29 (1973) 495.
M. G. BLANCHIN and G. FONTAINE, Phys. Stat. Sol. A 29 (1975) 491.
M. HIGUCHI, T. HOSOKAWA and S. KIMURA, J. Cryst. Growth 112 (1991) 354.
H. J. ZHANG, L. ZHU, X. L. MENG, Z. H. YANG, C. Q. WANG, W. T. YU, Y. T. CHOW and M. K. LU, Cryst. Res. Technol. 34 (1999) 1011.
M. HIGUCHI, K. HATTA, J. TAKAHASHI, K. KODAIRA, H. KANEDA and J. SAITO, J. Cryst. Growth 208 (2000) 501.
M. HIGUCHI and K. KODAIRA, J. Cryst. Growth 123 (1992) 495.
M. HIGUCHI, J. TAKAHASHI and K. KODAIRA, J. Cryst. Growth 125 (1992) 125.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lebret, J.B., Norton, M.G., Bahr, D.F. et al. Characterization of low angle grain boundaries in yttrium orthovanadate. J Mater Sci 40, 3347–3353 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-005-0422-4
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-005-0422-4