Growth, morphology and mechanism of rare earth vanadate crystals under mild hydrothermal conditions

Single crystals of RVO4 (R=Y,Gd) doped with optically active element like Nd have been obtained under mild hydrothermal conditions (T=240 °C, P∼80 bars). A detailed mechanism of the crystallization process, which helps in the considerable reduction of the PT conditions of the growth of these high-melting (m.p.>1800 °C) crystals has been formulated. The crystals obtained have been subjected to morphological, X-ray powder diffraction and infrared spectroscopic studies.