8 Floating Zone Growth of Oxides and Metallic Alloys

Single crystals of congruently and incongruently melting oxides have been grown by the optical floating zone (OFZ) and traveling solvent floating zone techniques. Both relatively low-cost methods work especially well for oxides melting above the maximum operating temperature of conventional crucibles or that were previously impossible to grow due to crucible oxidation or reaction of the melt with the crucible material. For incongruently melting …