Low-temperature study of an Er2Ti2O7 single crystal synthesized by floating zone technique and simplified feed rod preparation route

Abstract

A new simplified synthesis of an Er2Ti2O7 single crystal is presented. The single crystal was prepared by a floating zone technique from the unreacted stoichiometric mixture of starting oxides Er2O3 and TiO2. No intermediate reactions of constituent oxides were conducted in contrast to previous studies. We demonstrate a good quality of prepared single crystal by both thorough (microscopic) chemical and structural characterization of the material and measurements of previously reported low-temperature properties: An Er2Ti2O7 single crystal was characterized by means of X-ray, electron and neutron diffraction techniques, and magnetization and specific heat measurements. The low-temperature magnetization was investigated by indirect measurement employing pre-calibrated Hall probes. The obtained low-temperature data are well comparable with previous reports and document a high quality of the prepared single crystal. Presented single crystal synthesis from an unreacted precursor is prospectively applicable to other rare-earth RE2Ti2O7 pyrochlores.