GROWTH OF LITHIUM TRIBORATE CRYSTALS BY THE TSSG TECHNIQUE

Lithium triborate (LiB3O5) Single crystals were grown from B2O3 self-f lux solutions. The effects of seed orientation, rotation speed, temper ature gradient in solution and crystal polarity on crystal yield were investigated. At a cooling rate of 0.96 degrees C/day with a rotation speed of 50 rpm, relatively large crystals were grown from the seed no rmal to the (0 1 1) face. The growth rate and the morphology of grown crystal were affected by the polarity of seed. The quality of crystals grown from seeds of different directions was estimated by X-ray topog raphy. Second phase has not been observed in this work under the air a tmosphere without humidity control. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.