Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol.455, 94-98, 2016
High pressure crystal growth of the antiperovskite centrosymmetric superconductor SrPt3P
Bulk single crystals of SrPt3P have been grown for the first time by a self-flux method at 2 GPa and 1500 degrees C using the cubic-anvil, high-pressure and high-temperature technique. The grown black crystals were found to have either a plate-like or pillar-like morphology with maximum dimensions of similar to 1 x0.6x0.3 mm(3). According to a goniometric study the crystals are elongated in the ab-plane with the c-axis perpendicular to the plane. The crystal structure was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (P4/nmm, #129, Z=2, a=b=5.7927(2) angstrom, c=5.3729(2) angstrom and V=180.290(11) angstrom(3)). Temperature dependent susceptibility measurements showed a single-phase behaviour and a superconducting transition temperature of 8.6 K. This value for single crystals is slightly higher than that previously reported for polycrystalline SrPt3P. The sharpness of the susceptibility drop (Delta T-c=0.07 K) supports a high homogeneity of obtained crystals.