CeSb2 is a homologue of rare-earth diantimonides. This work reports a systematic study of a series of high-quality single crystals of CeSb2 grown by a self-flux method, which is a heavy fermion Kondo metal with intricate magnetic transitions. We have grown four types of crystals with different initial material ratios in order to investigate the effect of growth conditions on the quality of the as-grown crystals. The phase purity, morphology and composition of the synthesized samples were studied with X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, electron-probe microanalysis, and Raman-scattering spectroscopy to evaluate their quality. It is found that an inappropriate raw material ratio will lead to the inhomogeneity and poor crystallinity of the as-grown crystal. In addition, the electrical transport properties of the as-grown crystals were measured, from which the residual resistivity ratios were extracted to further examine the homogeneity and crystalline quality. Furthermore, the magnetoresistance properties of CeSb2 were observed. Through a systematic study on CeSb2, the most suitable starting ratio for the growth of CeSb2 was obtained, which might serve as a guide for the growth of other light rare-earth diantimonides.
Graphical Centimeter-level Li 5 MgSrFeB 12 O 24 single crystals were grown for the first time using Li 2 B 4 O 7 as a self-flux. Transmittance spectra of a Li 5 MgSrFeB 12 O 24 crystal reveal a wide transmittance window covering the range from UV to middle IR, and magnetic measurements show its paramagnetic characteristics. Two ferroborates Li 5 MSrFeB 12 O 24 (M = Mg, Zn) crystallized in trigonal R 3 space group, were obtained by high temperature solid state reaction. Centimeter-level Li 5 MgSrFeB 12 O 24 single crystals were grown from high temperature solution using Li 2 B 4 O 7 as a self-flux. In their structures, [FeO 6 ] octahedra connect with [B 2 O 6 ] chains by corner-sharing O atoms forming the three-dimensional [FeB 12 O 24 ] framework. The family of ferroborates(III) was summarized and the structural comparison with Ba 2 MgB 6 O 12 based on cation cosubstitution was also discussed to better understand the crystal structures of Li 5 MSrFeB 12 O 24 (M = Mg, Zn). The transmittance spectrum of a Li 5 MgSrFeB 12 O 24 crystal was measured to detect its transmittance window. In addition, thermal behaviors, other optical and magnetic characteristics of Li 5 MSrFeB 12 O 24 (M = Mg, Zn) were discussed as well.
Much effort has been devoted to synthesizing nonlinear optical crystals with efficient second harmonic responses. Herein, a tantalum phosphate crystal Na11Ta8P7O43 with a moderate second harmonic response was obtained using self-fluxes of NaH2PO4 and Na2HPO4. Na11Ta8P7O43 belongs to the Cc space group of monoclinic systems with cell parameters of a = 8.5710(2) Å, b = 15.1144(4) Å, c = 28.7712(7) Å, β = 92.304(2)°, Z = 4. Its structural features were unique (Ta8O33) bi-capped triangular prisms uniformly oriented with a PO4 connection in the ab plane, which were further joined through additional PO4 groups in the c direction, resulting in moderate nonlinear effects. In addition, this crystal has the characteristics of phase-matchable second harmonic generation, a shorter cutoff edge than the known materials LiTaO3 and KTiOPO4, and high transmittance from the visible to the near infrared band, and may serve as a potential nonlinear optical crystal.
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