Flux crystal growth of Cu<inf>2</inf>GaBO<inf>5</inf> and Cu<inf>2</inf>AlBO<inf>5</inf>

Abstract

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. The results of growth of two oxyborate single crystals, Cu2GaBO5 and Cu2AlBO5, with ludwigite structure from different flux systems using the spontaneous nucleation technique are reported. We obtained large Cu2GaBO5 and Cu2AlBO5 crystals of dimensions up to 3 × 4 × 15 mm3 and 1 × 1 × 10 mm3, respectively. Trimolybdate-bismuth fluxes diluted with the sodium carbonate for both Cu2GaBO5 and Cu2AlBO5, as well as lithium-molybdate and lithium-borate fluxes for Cu2AlBO5, were used. It was observed that the growth of Cu2GaBO5 and Cu2AlBO5 is accompanied by the growth of CuO, Cu2Al6B4O17, and Cu2Al1-xGaxBO5 crystals as secondary phases. Structural and magnetic characterization of the crystals is also performed.