LiYF4 liquid-phase epitaxy using an inverted slider geometry

With the aim of improving results on the fabrication of activated waveguide s, the development of an inverted sliding boat setup for the liquid-phase e pitaxy of LiYF4 is reported. A serious problem arises from strong wetting p reventing the complete removal of the flux after growth, which severely aff ects the quality of the surface layer during subsequent cooling. However, t he method is suitable to produce double-layer structures with a thin buried layer of high quality in one growth run. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.