A new technique to grow incongruent melting Ga:YIG crystals: the edge-defined film-fed growth method

Crystalline yttrium iron garnet (YIG) is an important magneto-optical material. However, this crystal is an incongruent melting compound. As is well known, compared to the crystal growth of a congruent melting compound by using the Czochralski method, the crystal growth of an incongruent melting compound is more difficult. In this work, a system for growing Ga:YIG single crystals by the edge-defined film-fed growth (EFG) method was designed and constructed, and the mechanism of crystal growth was also preliminarily studied. The Ga³⁺ dopant concentration, the Curie temperature and the transmission spectra of as-grown crystals were investigated to evaluate their potential application in magneto-optical devices. The success of growing Ga:YIG crystals by the EFG method provides a new way to grow other incongruent melting compounds.