Growth of terbium gallium garnet (TGG) magneto-optic crystals by edge-defined film-fed growth method

Although terbium gallium garnet (TGG) single crystals suitable for practical applications have been grown by the Czochralski technique due to its congruent melting nature, the inter face shape readily deteriorates to spiral growth when grown with a flat inter face or facet formation when grown with a convex interface. The Edge-defined Film-fed Growth (EFG) method was used to grow TGG crystals for the first time. The influence of the raw material sintering temperature, growth atmosphere, growth rate and other growth conditions on the crystal quality were investigated. The Verdet constant of as-grown crystal was measured as 39 rad/T.m at 1064 nm by the extinction method, which was close to the literature value. The source of color centers in the crystals is also discussed. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.