Vertical Bridgman growth of Bi12SiO20 crystal with axial vibration

Bi12SiO20 (BSO) single crystal was grown in the 〈2 2 0〉 direction by vertical Bridgman technique with axial vibration. The crystals grown with and without vibration have been characterized by X-ray rocking curves, chemical etching and optical transmission spectra. The results show that the quality of the crystal grown with vibration is more homogeneous. The size of the inclusions in crystal becomes smaller and the dislocation density is only 50% as low as that grown in the case of vibration. Furthermore, the optical transmittance is increased by about 10% compared with the crystal grown without vibration in the spectrum range of 600–800 nm.