M. Berkowski et al., Czochralski growth and structural investigations of La1-xNdxGaO3 solid solution single crystals, J CRYST GR, 209(1), 2000, pp. 75-80
Growth of single crystals in the pseudobinary LaGaO3-NdGaO3 system by the C
zochralski method was investigated. It was found that solid solution crysta
ls La1 - xNdxGaO3 exist in the whole concentration range. The structure of
the crystals was investigated by X-ray diffraction method. It was found tha
t the unit cell volume decreases linearly with increasing Nd concentration
in agreement with Vegard's law, With increasing Nd concentration x the latt
ice parameters a and c decrease, whereas b increases. At x = 0.32 parameter
s a and b become equal and the crystal adopts the pseudo-tetragonal structu
re, The differential thermal analysis proved that the temperature of the fi
rst-order phase transition observed in LaGaO3 at 150 degrees C rises linear
ly with Nd concentration at the rate of 20.5 degrees C/Nd mol% up to the me
lting temperature. The segregation coefficients of Nd in LaGaO3 and La in N
dGaO3 have been found to be k(eff)(Nd) approximate to 0.77 and k(eff)(La) a
pproximate to 1.3. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights r
eserved. PACS. 81.10. - h; 81.10.Fq; 68.35.Bs.