Flux-Czochralski growth of Ca9Y(VO4)7 crystal

• A high-quality YCa9(VO4)7 crystal was grown by the Flux-Czochralski method from the Li3VO4 flux.
• The Ca9Y(VO4)7 crystal (Flux-CZ) has better thermal stability than the Ca9Y(VO4)7 crystal (CZ).
• The transmittance of the Ca9Y(VO4)7 crystal (Flux-CZ) is higher than that of the Ca9Y(VO4)7 crystal (CZ).
• There are fewer defects in the Ca9Y(VO4)7 crystal (Flux-CZ) than in the Ca9Y(VO4)7 crystal (CZ).
• The results show that the Flux-CZ method is a suitable method for growing Ca9Y(VO4)7 crystal.

The mutual solubility of Ca9Y(VO4)7 and Li3VO4 was investigated in detail, Ca9Y(VO4)7 has high solubility in Li3VO4. Based on this, a high-quality Ca9Y(VO4)7 crystal was grown successfully by the Flux-Czochralski method from Li3VO4 flux. The thermal conductivity, thermal expansion coefficient, optical transmittance and crystal defect of the grown Ca9Y(VO4)7 crystal were measured, and compared with those of the Ca9Y(VO4)7 crystal grown by the traditional Czochralski method. The results show that the Ca9Y(VO4)7 crystal grown by the Flux-Czochralski method has much higher optical quality, and the Flux-Czochralski method is suitable to the growth of vanadate crystals.