<title>Growth and habit of lithium triborate crystal by flux pulling method</title>

Abstract

High quality lithium triborate LiB3O5 (LBO) single crystals with dimension larger than (phi) 60 X 15 mm have been grown by the flux pulling method. It is found that higher rate of growth is available for LBO crystal grown by the flux pulling method as compared with the flux seeding method. The investigation of the viscosity of melt in the Li2O-B2O3 system indicates that the phenomenon of 'Boron Abnormality' has much influence on the viscosity of melt. Therefore, some ordinary metal oxides, such as alkali metal oxide and alkaline-earth metal oxide, could hardly be used as the optimal flux for LBO crystal growth. Some suitable compounds were proposed as the flux for the improvement of the LBO crystal growth due to the high viscosity of melt in the Li2O-B2O3 system. The habit of LBO crystal has been studied with different oriented seeds in different crystal growth conditions. Investigations of the defects in LBO crystal show that the defects have close relationship with the habit of the crystal. Some important crystallographic data are also linked.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.