Bulk Single-Crystal Growth of Ce/Gd3(Al,Ga)5O12 from Melt without a Precious Metal Crucible by Pulling from a Cold Container

We report the growth of cerium-doped multicomponent garnet (Ce/ GAGG) single crystals based on crystal pulling from a melt using a cold container without employing a precious metal crucible. This novel method is described in detail. We measured the optical, luminescence, and scintillation characteristics of several samples cut from three crystals and compared them with a commercial Ce/ GAGG crystal. The best samples from the set are fully comparable in all characteristics with the commercial reference crystal, demonstrating the practical potential of this method. Avoidance of an expensive precious metal crucible in this method makes crystal growth much more economical.

Automated summary

We present a novel method for growing cerium-doped multicomponent garnet (Ce/GAGG) single crystals by crystal pulling from a melt using a cold container without a precious metal crucible. The optical, luminescence, and scintillation characteristics of the samples from three crystals were measured and compared with a commercial Ce/GAGG crystal, showing the practical potential of this method. The elimination of an expensive precious metal crucible makes crystal growth more economical.