Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol.364, 51-56, 2013
Growth and characterization of bismuth zinc borate Bi2ZnB2O7 crystal fibers by the micro-pulling down technique
Bi2ZnB2O7 (BZBO) is a new non-linear optical material with high potential applications. In this paper, we report on the preparation of BZBO powder and growth of crystal fibers by the micro-pulling down technique (mu-PD) for the first time. Several fibers with constant diameter between 300 and 550 mu m and length up to 100 mm were pulled in air atmosphere with rates between 4.5 and 12 mm h(-1). Various physical and optical characterizations (optical microscopy, SEM, Raman micro-spectroscopy, and EDX microprobe) were performed to investigate the crystal quality and compositional homogeneity of the obtained fibers. The obtained fibers showed a uniform color from yellow to orange-red and a particular microstructure, presently attributed to the presence of disordered or glassy parts containing a Bi-rich compound. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.